Indian constitution and democracy are the biggest enablers speech about it
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To restore India as a liberal democratic nation, it will require more than a mere conduct of regular, supposedly free and fair, elections. We will need to shift the goalposts of our attentions to the fundamental tenets that make a democracy
It is disappointing, and even condemnable, that Penguin India capitulated to pressure from the Hindu far right in deciding to pulp all remaining copies of Wendy Doniger’s book The Hindus: An Alternative History. Penguin’s claims that Indian law — particularly Section 295A of the Indian Penal Code — makes it “difficult for any Indian publisher to uphold international standards of free expression without deliberately placing itself outside the law,” is only partially correct. The law on the subject is often onerous, and the courts’ interpretation of it is frequently inconsistent making the battle for free speech not only a difficult one, but also impossible to predict. Yet, by all reasonable accounts, Ms Doniger’s book, even if a most conservative reading of the law were employed, would not have been injuncted from publication. What’s more, the chances of Penguin and the author facing prosecution under Section 295A were distant and implausible. The publisher’s reasons for settling, therefore, appear, at best, insincere.