Freedom of Speech

When I heard the news of Indian Government regulating the social networking sites like Facebook and twitter, some sovereign citizens of our country, on a popular news channel, were debating about the right to ‘Freedom of speech’. I was not able to restrict myself from writing on the topic.

The Indian Constitution guarantees freedom of speech to every citizen. In India, citizens are free to criticize politics, politicians, bureaucracy and policies, not yet satisfied? just try doing this in China, Iran or Israel. For the matter of fact, Article 19 of the Indian constitution states that:

All citizens shall have the right — 
1.

  to freedom of speech and expression;

I guess we all will agree on this, as long as we are able to call Mr. Manmohan Singh as ‘Robot of a waitress’ and successfully cursing Vilasrao Deshmukh, saying it’s all the deeds and scams, when the poor guy was already on death bed. Misspelling Digvijay Singh as Dogvijay Singh, calling the government impotent, and again opposing saying politicians as government’s illegitimate sons like the one Mr. N.D. Tiwari had. We can say, yes, we have freedom of speech and expression. Point out if you disagree.   

2.        

to assemble peaceably and without arms;

Just spread the word ‘peace’ and viola, you can gather in hundreds or rather in thousands, who cares if you got the permission for it or not, it’s our right, don’t agree? Ask Mr. Raj Thackeray and of course you must be without arms but why is that required when you already have arms, twice than your head count. So what do you think? We have peace, we have arms, bingo.  

3.        

to form associations or unions;

Go ahead and form your own, Indian Mujahidin, ULFA, Jaish-e-Mohemmad, United National Liberation Front, Babbar Khalsa International, Tamilnadu Liberation Army, Students Islamic Moments of India (SIMI), LTTE and many more such unions, I assure, nobody will stop you.

4.      

 to move freely throughout the territory of India;

You can attend any rally and activity in any part of country, whether the flag color is orange or green, nobody will stop you, this is the power of our right to freedom of speech.

5.        

to reside and settle in any part of the territory of India;

Of course you can settle in Maharashtra if your origin is Bihar and of course you can settle in Karnataka if you are from Assam, of course you can settle in Delhi if you are a Kashmiri Brahmin, who stops you? Sheila Dixit? Or a party with colorful flag? Doesn’t matter… 

6.        

to practice any profession, or to carry on any occupation, trade or business.

As long as you are paying tax which goes not into managing country, but in accounts of Swiss Bank, or as long as you do not belong to civil society or the India Against Corruption moment you are free to work, how do you think they would get rich if you don’t work? You are you, a common man and they are they, a common politician.

If you think it’s all done, wait a second, there is no such thing as a free dinner, everything has its cost and limitations, B.R. Ambedkar was a smart guy, he just included few more points saying,

These rights are limited so as not to effect:

The integrity of India - all groups listed above are banned because of this one clause.

The security of the State - applies on all gatherings and if the group is poor, consists of female gender and children then there is huge possibility that you are going to be a victim of some lathis and tear gases from the otherwise helpful Indian police. Sigh if you didn’t get the humor in this.

Friendly relations with foreign States – who Pakistan? Of course we maintain our friendship. You can find their citizen resting in the guest house of Arthur road jail in Mumbai.

Public order – this is for the public who try to effect their own order. So no comments.

Decency or morality – you can ignore this, no one cares about morals now, so forget about this one and ask your women not to step out after 9 and not to go anywhere alone as this part of freedom of speech is null and void.  

Contempt of court – if someone involved in murder, harassment or scam (talking about digits greater than 8, 9, 10) and is set free by the court, dare you protest, you are dishonoring Indian constitution, article 19.

Defamation or incitement to an offense – I will say something about this, once I found the proper definition of offense.

Writing this post, I just used my freedom of speech. You are free to use yours and can comment, after all our constitution gives us the power to express whatever you think. Jai Hind.