Dissent:Why and When

As I sat through NewsHour debate last night and listened to Arnab Goswami’s tirade I thought of writing this article. Now it’s a common knowledge how NewsHour is conducted and I would not go into that but as I moved from TV to social media, namely Facebook I found the same thing going on with a much greater and vicious ferocity.

With the almost un-interrupted Modi mania going on in this country I must reflect on the happenings of Facebook now and a few years back. The atmosphere of Facebook was not always like this. Even 1-2 years back people could freely express their views, debate it in a healthy way and most of the time used to agree to disagree amicably. But times have changed. Now whatever you do or whoever you are you must agree to the majority view point or else you are traitor, less than a human being, a paid agent and hence liable to be ousted from this country.

I have a problem with this. Why can’t we no longer disagree on important issues and still be friends or at least learn to tolerate each other. Why must we always show such extreme emotions and expect the minorities to follow that (I am not talking of religious minorities here). So in the end comes the most important question, DISSENT why it is necessary and when it is necessary.

The answer of course is simple and immediately presents itself to us. Dissent is necessary when you see that the space for freedom of expression is getting constricted. And it is necessary because else the voices of minorities (all types) will get suppressed.

So here is the real issue. Will a political change as demanded by the majority (so it seems) will uphold the RIGHT TO DISSENT or will it simply crush every opposing views in the BLITZKRIEG of development and superpower ambitions. As usual any opposing view is most welcome. Thank you.

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