Freedom of speech has boundaries



Lately, the "freedom of expression" in India has been called into question by the liberalists, the left wings and mostly the Page 3 socialites – just like I usually do, I would again like to take a moment to respond to them and ask you all, has your freedom to criticize the government, lambaste the events, praise things, love people, uphold beliefs, express opinions or follow your faith, in anyway been infringed upon? Are you sure?

Are you not allowed to criticize, condemn, praise, celebrate, express, uphold or follow what you feel you should? Or is it the opposite as some might say, you are allowed to do all that more than ever, simply because things today in India are boiling up more than ever?

In my opinion, you are free to do all that and more. You are even free to condemn India, yes! At home, in office, at the eateries, in bus, metro, train almost everywhere in private or in public, we find Indians in general condemning India in the most hackneyed fashion like, India is filthy, India is disastrous, Indians don’t have civic sense, India will never improve, Indians are shabby, Indian democracy is flawed, India is the worst place to live in, India is corrupt, India is not for the poor, India is not for the rich and India is not for middle class, India is this and India is that and all sorts of ways we discover to condemn our own beloved nation and sometimes we even go overboard and take on to eminent platforms to say all this. 
 The question arises, is it fine to say such things for your nation – of course it is fine, you have that much right, we understand, it’s alright to condemn but what is not alright is to say that you will destroy India, you will break India into a thousand pieces, you will burn India to the ground and devastate it and that is all I am up against. When you rise to say such words that’s exactly when your "freedom of expression" ceases to exist. I will break your jaw if you say you will break my country! I won’t even let you take refuge in the benign verses of constitution because constitution is useless collection of printed papers without the existence of country.

Because of the nation constitution is there, it’s not the constitution that alone is giving birth to the nation. I will not sit aside to make pickle out of constitution when my country is being conspired against.

Sulabh Gupta