The Hindu nationalist regime has cultivated religious animosity \u2013 undermining the nation\u2019s secular traditions<\/p>\n
Nothing is as important, the philosopher Immanuel Kant claimed, as the \u201cfreedom to make public use of one\u2019s reason on all matters\u201d. Unfortunately, as Kant also noted, the opportunity to argue is often restrained by society \u2013 sometimes very severely. A disturbing fact about the world today is that authoritarian tendencies have been strikingly on the increase in many countries \u2013 in Asia, in Europe, in Latin America, in Africa and within the United States of America. I fear I have to include my own country, India, in that unfortunate basket.<\/p>\n
After India secured independence from British colonial rule, it had for many decades a fine history of being a secular democracy with much personal liberty. People showed their commitment to freedom and their determination to remove authoritarian governance through decisive public action, for example in the general elections in 1977, in which the despotic regulations \u2013 dressed as \u201cthe emergency\u201d \u2013 were firmly rejected by the people. The government obeyed promptly.<\/p>\n