ayesha.a
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It is his democratic right.It is his shop,and he can allow/disallow anybody,just like we do at home
It is his democratic right.It is his shop,and he can allow/disallow anybody,just like we do at home
What has "democratic" got to do with it? "Democratic rights" are those pertaining to franchise - the rights to participate in elections, the right to have an elected government, the right to stand for elections, the right to be part of the political process as an equal. "Democracy" is a system of governance, nothing more, nothing less.
Whom to do business with has no relation to "democratic rights". You could argue that from the POV of individual rights - why should a business owner do business with people he doesn't like? That makes more sense, and is understandable. But then, the USA as a nation enacted laws curbing the rights of businesses to cater to their favoured customers alone, during the civil rights era of the 60's. Business establishments were prohibited by law from barring people on the basis of skin color, gender, etc. So just as a white supremacist today cannot legally open a business for whites alone, an islamophobe cannot open a business for non muslims alone. That's not my opinion - that is American law, in word and in spirit.
Now me being a sucker for individual freedom, I can sympathize with your position that he does not have to sell to anybody he doesn't want to. But tell me something, would you apply the same yardstick in India? For example, if some parts of a city only catered to high class brahmins, and lower castes were prohibited, would that be OK for you? That whole social movement in the 1920s in India to remove such injustices - lead by Gandhi, Sri Narayana Guru, Ayyankali etc - would you be OK in going against that tiding, and proclaim that everybody is free to follow their prejudices? How about untouchability, if one class of people practice it, would you consider it their right? The establishment causes of the nation prohibit all such practices.