Ban the ban

It is not healthy for a country to ban anything, be it a speech, book, publication, movie, show etc. based on public sentiment. All ideas and opinions must be allowed to be aired, however extreme, even if they are totally wrong, as long as they do not threaten or incite violence, or compromise the security…

Turn off the gas before the cooker blows!

Though I was very young when Indira Gandhi declared a national Emergency in 1975, I still remember the political chaos that preceded the declaration, the total collapse of law and order and the lack of accountability as the increasingly besieged government lost control and its legitimacy. Student protests, hartals, strikes, bandhs were the order of…