Right to be wrong

In the recent past world saw the worst forms of terrorism in the name of religion.One major religion Islam was criticized and ridiculed for its stance on religious radicalism and its reaction to free speech and religious expression across the world.

Two specific incidents namely the Charlie Hebdo Killing in France and the Boko Haram Killings in Nigeria done in the name of religion was a deep shocker to me as i read those incidents.It was followed by news about terrorist plots and killings by ISIS and other extremist groups across continents.Surprisingly Europe was brought into the spotlight for a change.

Even in India free speech has been a herculean task even for established media persons and critics.Hinduism and its ardent proponents enacted a "home coming "act leading to unrest in the country and  slowly the minorities started feeling insecure as they started expressing their dissent through various social media and forums

I started wondering how does one express himself and his religious convictions in this multicultural world without collateral damage.Our country which boasts of democracy and secularism promotes freedom of speech and expression of any religious views.But unfortunately it does not happen at the ground level.There is no absolute freedom of the individual as opposed to the freedom of expression of a group of people and the so called "groups"take advantage of the numbers and noise in suppressing the voice of the individual and they take great great pride in stamping his freedom under the foot in the name of right to "protest"!.The hindu fundamental groups protests against free speech of religion and literature expressed in various forms is a stark example of this kind of abominable conduct.In the west the absolute freedom of the individual is glorified as opposed to the group or community.The man of the moment Mr Modi has also played his usual role of a silent observer to the mass killings and atrocities which happen across the globe leave alone his own soil. Why he did not take a stand on killings in the name of religion across the globe and expressed solidarity with the victims in Nigeria and Paris.What is the point of having development without participation with the community in its highs and lows?When there is a open call for investment to the capitalists as though they have hard of hearing why the perpetual cry for essentials like health and education from the roots of the society falls on deaf ears?

I was reminded of the trial of Jesus Christ where the truth of an individual was crushed by the voice of a mob when the establishment passed the judgement of crucifixion on him.Even now there is only a malignant growth of suppression of freedom of expression of an individual in the nation and religious establishments  rather than a culture which encourages the right to dissent and disagree and bring the voices out in the open for public debate and policy making.There are no systems to promote this culture within the establishments and organisations apart from some debates in the news media which is more of a noisy drama with a nosy moderator aimed at promoting the TRP ratings.

In a wonderful article written  by Mr Tabish democracy is defined as follows "But, no, democracy is not a matter of being right. It is more a matter of being wrong. The notion of equal rights is  not the same as the belief that you are right by virtue of being a citizen or a believer or even a human being. Instead, the reason why you have to allow other people the same rights as yourself (including the right to differ from you) is that you might be wrong after all. We can never be certain of being right. Not one of us."

This i believe is at the core of democracy and secularism which is constantly left at the mercy of fundamentalist groups who stamp down freedom in the name of modesty.

I ask myself do i have the humility to accept the fact that i might be wrong and others might be right or for all you know others are also possibly wrong as me?As long as i start any dialogue from this platform i may be on my way to becoming a fundamentalist one day creating another version of Charlie Hebdo incident in my vicinity.

"There is no person more wrong than the person who believes he is always right." - Tabish