Freedom is my birthright, and I shall have it. - Bal Gangadhar Tilak
We get to know the importance of light only when we face darkness. So, everything in our world is comparative, even our freedom. Compared to the eras of slavery, we are a lot happier, but we still need pleasure. We continue to work toward raising our standard of living. Making improvements is a positive thing, but they must be made on an honest route. Losing the ethics for the sake of a higher quality of living is unquestionably unwise.
The underlying idea of the concept of what B.G. Tilak had quoted have been eliminated and given a "contemporary" interpretation in the current environment, which has derogated its meaning and content. Today, freedom is clearly seen as a weapon to maximize one's own convenience and disregard the rights and interests of one's counterparts.
Every segment of society defined "freedom" according to their own preferences and convenience, even throughout India's war for independence. For the business class, it was simply a way to avoid paying high taxes. The Scheduled Caste (depressed class) joined the freedom movement in the hopes of obtaining freedom from discrimination and atrocities committed against them. For the peasants, it meant freedom from the exploitation of landlords. Since then, we have repeatedly encountered the same circumstance with a highly ambiguous sensation of freedom. However, in today's free India, we intentionally or unintentionally misunderstand the word "Freedom" to satisfy our own personal desires.
What are the everyday realities we encounter today? It is well known that freedom has consistently been misused and misinterpreted in India—as opposed to freedom for India. It has occasionally been restrained and silenced. Have we been able to uphold the promises written in our Constitution, despite the fact that we have granted ourselves a Welfare State? In both speech and deed, are we really socialist, secular, and democratic? There is no doubt that this requires reflection.
Freedom always has some limitations, and a lack of freedom is designed to keep a grip among various people and organizations for the benefit of everyone. The Social Contract by Rousseau opens with the phrase "Man is born free, yet he travels in chains everywhere" . It is simple to misinterpret. Man is "born free," so he must not be imprisoned, but in this context, "born free" refers to an infant's lack of emotional values, his near absence of a childhood language, and liability to understand this complex society. One possible misunderstanding of the word "Chain" is that man is under siege.
Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and other terrorist organizations are abusing their "freedom" to intimidate, terrorize, and destroy the rest of the globe in order to establish their suzerainty. Because of their extreme freedom, millions of people are afraid to exercise their fundamental rights. Is it appropriate for one person to abuse another person's freedom in this way? The notion of freedom is interpreted differently by youth: do whatever your mentality permits, whether it is right or wrong; construct their own code of conduct; violate social agreements; and behave in opposition to cultural standards. Are these things subject to legal judgement on any basis? Surely no.
It is quite obvious that in India, using the legal system and the court system to resolve disputes can take a long time, and the police have often fallen short of their obligations to the general public. The police are severely understaffed and generally ineffective and corrupt. This effectively freezes our freedom. The noble values of freedom that we all cherish and are written in our Constitution have frequently been reduced to widespread disillusionment by these government entities.
The majority of our population's illiteracy, however, is the most significant reason why the ideal of freedom is misunderstood. People misunderstand and abuse freedom because they are unaware of their rights and responsibilities. People frequently abuse and profit from their sense of freedom by voicing partial, subjective, and ambiguous opinions on every topic under the sun under the notion of freedom of expression, turning this Fundamental Right into a parody. Democracy succeeds in part because of education. Sadly, up until now, this has not been the case in our nation.
But the powerful and privileged few in India are the ones who misread and abuse freedom the most severely. According to them they are the law. They shamelessly flaunt their authority. They believe they can get away with anything because they have the connections to disregard every established rule and custom of civilized society, and they frequently hold this belief. They have compromised the system the most. They just care about advancing themselves at the expense of everyone and everything else. They misuse and misinterpret freedom in this way. The lack of an educated, informed, and intelligent populace only serves to embolden.Plato has rightly described, “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of lights.”
Additionally, the general public's inability to understand that every fundamental right comes with an equal obligation has contributed to the current situation in which the ruling class has grossly misunderstood, mistreated, and misused freedom. Since the general public is not permitted to take the initiative because they do not understand that "freedom is the biggest responsibility," our freedom is not truly free. According to our constitution, a free state should be primarily focused on the needs of its citizens and be liberal and flexible. However, it has been twisted and changed by our rulers into something that chokes the idea itself. Although the idea of freedom may seem idealistic, we must all work hard to protect it with honesty, integrity, and dedication. All of us must be dedicated to achieving the ideal of freedom. Once it is done, there won't be any room for misunderstanding or abuse of it.
It is imperative that Gandhi's lessons continue to resonate in our brains. He once asserted that liberty entails personal liberty. He cannot be said to be free until he learns to control himself, until he limits his needs, until he instills a sense of societal responsibility, and until he does all three. Political freedom apart, the country cannot be free until the individual is free.
The judiciary can take the lead in this. It will not only assist India in protecting the freedom of speech and association for its inhabitants, but it will also prevent the State from arbitrary application of "reasonable limits". Perfect balancing will go a long way toward assisting India in achieving the highly coveted objectives of the Indian Constitution.
We can conclude by saying that we have reduced freedom to the status of a slave to our selfish desires. This situation needs to be changed immediately if we want to continue breathing in the scent of freedom. We shall be encouraging foreign nations to empower us more as we prefer to go along with globalisation.