We have had a so-called Left-Liberal class that was neither Left nor Liberal. In the name of serving the poor, it hijacked the state and its resources for private political ends. Instead of emphasising the rule of law, it converted the state into a form of private property whose resources could be commandeered for favouring underprivileged groups through freebies. The first job of the state is to provide “public goods” that all have an equal right to enjoy – which means ensuring effective policing, law and order, a fair and quick justice delivery system, quality public education and health services. But our Left emphasised private goods (subsidies for food, fertiliser and fuel to the undeserving, job reservations for powerful pressure groups, et al). Little wonder, it has no moral courage to stand up to those who threaten free speech. The impartial law and order machinery that can guarantee free speech does not exist. The state has been well and truly subverted and almost made the private property of various ruling families at centre and states.
At the intellectual level, the so-called "secular liberals" also failed to create a liberal atmosphere by focusing their criticism excessively on the so-called Hindu majority. What they were really doing was fan minority communalism and calling it secularism. Their outrage is always selective, and this has become so obvious that no one is fooled anymore.
Today's illiberal climate is the result of this failure of our "liberal" elite to defend liberalism. If sundry caste and Hindu fringe groups are now running riot in some places it is because they have realised that they too can play the game of "injured sentiments". They are trying to do what the "liberals" encouraged minority and caste groups to do for over six decades - claim hurt feelings and assert the right to shut someone else up and ensure that the law and order machinery does not act against these groups. Now, everyone can do the same damage.
The "liberals" have ensured a society of competitive illiberalism.
Can we overturn this onslaught on illiberalism? Yes, but we need our "liberals" to introspect first. They could start by calling for a lifting of the ban on The Satanic Verses and, in fact, all books, plays and films banned by various governments anywhere in India.
Second, all genuine liberals and civil society groups must refuse to back action against creative work or free speech merely because it offends somebody. Mere offense or hurting the sentiments of anyone cannot be grounds for banning anything. The ban on beef is illiberal. Every Hindu has a right to revere his cow, but not to decide someone else's dietary habits. It is time to remove the idea of cow protection or prohibition from the constitution, just as it is time to remove the abridgement of free speech that Nehru introduced almost immediately after the new constitution was legislated. People who believe the cow should be protected are free to espouse their cause and even pay good money to do so, just as people who want to encourage abstinence from alcohol are free to educate the public on its dangers. A liberal state must protect the individual from the power of the state and powerful groups, and bans of any kind are, by definition, illiberal.
Liberals should also seek to abolish the constitutional protection of minority rights (articles 29 and 30) and instead focus on protecting the rights of the "minority of one" - the individual. All minorities are contextual, not real. A Muslim may be a minority in India, but they may be a majority in a district or a village. And a Shia may be a minority within the group called Muslims. So which minority should we protect? The only minority worth protecting is the “minority of one”. If the individual is protected, all collectives of individuals will automatically get protection to do what they collectively will to do – the only limit being that they cannot, in the process, curtail any other individual’s or group’s rights.
The idea of minorityism is by definition illiberal, for it privileges group rights over that of the individual. If individuals can be secure in their freedoms, society will automatically be free and liberal.
Illiberal India: Why the only minority we need to protect is the 'minority of one' - Firstpost
Tarabari is part of Kishanganj Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by Maulana Asrarul Haque Qasmi. The fact that despite not spending even a single penny, along with 26 other MPs, from the allocated MPLADS (Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme) funds, Qasmi has repeatedly been winning the seat and perhaps is a sign that development has still not become a parameter used to assess performance in Muslim politics.
Tarabari: The Bihar village that is bad publicity for Brand Nitish's claim of development - Firstpost
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