I dissent.

Political dissent in essence is a sentiment of non-conformity to an idea or policy enforced by a government.Discussion, disagreement and dissent are crucial in a democracy and the vehicle through which this discordance can be expressed in India are freedom of speech and expression, to assemble peacefully without arms and freedom and to form associations and unions.However today the blanket labelling of dissent as “anti-national” shows how people scrutinize dissent through the microscope of jingoism.

There is a difference between dissent and defiance, a difference which is often disregarded and when people speak up they are branded as traitors using unjust accessories such as UAPA and sedition. Dissent is born the very moment governments are unable to accommodate a difference in opinion and it is then that a conscious citizen realises his/her denial to freedom. In a country which is said to have freedom of speech, it is questionable whether the person will have freedom after speech.

When governments interpret peaceful protest as treason, environmental consciousness as a global conspiracy, think-pieces published by courageous newspapers as treachery, and civil society activism as subversion, the first casualty is freedom of speech. Those who speak out against rights violations have already faced persecution. Activists have been held in preventive detention to stop them from organising protests, while critics of the government are accused of sedition, criminal defamation, or terrorism. The authorities have used financial audits and investigations against rights groups and media companies The media are under pressure to self-censor or toe the government line. The authorities have used criminal defamation to target journalists and critics. Introduction of draconian rules such as the new IT laws or the media policy further curb the envelope of freedom of expression pointing towards an authoritarian regime.

The power of the ruling classes rests in its ability to stop people from thinking and uncritically buy into dominant ideologies. Opposition parties collapse, the media celebrates the cult of leaders, star anchors glorify the military, and pay ritual obeisance to an abstract national interest that prevails all the time and every time over the concrete interests of individuals who want to live a fulfilling life. We are at the mercy of absurdities, of painfully distorted versions of concepts and leaders we hold dear, of the reduction of democracy to numbers, and of coercion for perceived crimes so slight, that the judiciary should be throwing these cases out the window. It is precisely at this point that dissent based on the courage to think bores a hole in a political armour made of steel.- (Neera Chandokle- a political science teacher at DU)

There is no democracy without dissent and hence parallel culture that is developed in the space of civil society must not replicate the bureaucratic structures of power upon which the power of the state rests. Civil society is the site for the construction of solidarity and freedom through citizens associations.As Amartya Sen suggests we should not allow colonial penal codes that impose unfreedoms to remain unchallenged. We must not tolerate the intolerance that undermines our democracy, that impoverishes the lives of many Indians, and that facilitates a culture of impunity of tormentors.In particular, there is need for judicial scrutiny of the use that organised tormentors make of an imagined entitlement of “not to be offended”.

So as citizens of this ‘Naya Bharat’ we must ask ourselves that are we ready to abdicate our own reason, conscience, and responsibility just to blindly support the ruling party or should we keep the spirit of the democracy alive by following unity in diversity and not unity in uniformity.