REASONABLE RESTRICTIONS

REASONABLE RESTRICTIONS 

Freedom of speech and expression with reasonable restrictions' is a puerile proposition that is an open admission of the immaturity of our polity and a potent weapon in the hands of the administration to curb freedom of speech itself. Democracy has been much impaired by the First Amendment of our Constitution brought about in 1951 by the Nehru Government to this effect. It leaves the entire spectrum of speech grey and open to interpretation as suits the ruling dispensation. By curbing speech thus in the name of securing social harmony it effectively restricts spontaneous discourse which is the life of a democracy. Judging by what goes on in Parliament, though, one can value its restrictive virtue. Else, it may be argued, our entire nation would have been a vast field for schoolboys' brawl. But that is an open admission of the failure of the national education system and the divisive policy pursued by successive governments in keeping different sections of the polity disunited for electoral considerations.

Written by Sugata Bose