What’s the limit in democracy?

Recently there has been much brouhaha about the beef ban across selected states in India after the initiative by the state of Maharashtra. It’s actually a moot issue as to what is correct and what is wrong considering the secular structure and autonomy in our country. India is a secular country where everybody is invited with their own ideologies and perhaps this is the starting point for embarking on a tumultuous social journey for a particular nation. Problems start to pour in when there is a clash of interest between the sections of the society. Liberty means the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one’s behavior or political views. A particular section says that it’s our wish and liberty to consume whatever they wish. But the point to be mentioned is that it should not interfere with the religious sentiments of others which and this is the crux of ongoing feud. Cow is considered to be a deity in the Hinduism religion. And any logical explanation against this is not sought from members of any religion, be it Hindu too. We should try to maintain our dignity and respect other religions too.

Just to add flare to the fire, some idiotic public personalities like Shobha De, Justice Katju and Rishi Kapoor have declared that they consume beef and nobody can harm them. These fools don’t understand that for logical and religious persons their views don’t matter and they are degrading and tarnishing their public image. Their ulterior motif is to gain popularity by releasing such gimmick to survive in this highly competitive public popularity scenario. After all, nobody wants to get forgotten but instead loves to be in headlines.

It’s not a question of liberty. It’s about the limit of liberty. What constitutes of liberty and to what extent can it be fulfilled in a secular state. If this is the extent of liberty, then the day is not far when meat of ‘what not’ will be allowed. Also, the biological and dairy chain aspect is also relevant as the cattle provides milk. This chain gets affected by mass consumption of beef.
So, keeping all opinions aside, the suffrage of the masses should be tried to be maintained because we still have the nationalism alive in us.

Bhartrihari Pandiya
Rs178@iiita.ac.in

adminVibes
What’s the limit in democracy? Recently there has been much brouhaha about the beef ban across selected states in India after the initiative by the state of Maharashtra. It’s actually a moot issue as to what is correct and what is wrong considering the secular...