SENIOR JOURNALIST & BESTSELLING AUTHOR
Before Independence satyagrahis stood before a line of policemen with raised lathis. Nearly eight decades after Independence, that haunting image still asks uncomfortable questions of Indian democracy. The greatness of a democracy is measured not by the force it can command, but by the restraint it chooses to exercise.
Four hunger strikes over four decades—from Ladakh to the Ganga to Jantar Mantar—reveal a profound shift in how Indian governments respond to citizens who choose self-sacrifice over violence.
A government loses little by talking to peaceful protesters. It risks much by refusing to listen. For the true measure of a democracy lies not in the power a government wields, but in the dissenting voices it is prepared to hear.
Democracy is not destroyed overnight. It erodes gradually. Each silenced protest, each intimidated dissenter, and each indifferent citizen becomes another nail in the coffin of freedom.
As students protest and Sonam Wangchuk fasts for educational accountability, Bollywood’s biggest stars remain conspicuously absent. The industry’s silence raises an uncomfortable question: are its screen heroes merely manufactured illusions?
In an age when religious identity seems to rule our lives, the best option is to quietly transcend conventional labels, and adopt the belief that humanity itself is the most enduring faith.
OSWALD PEREIRA 