Talk or not to talk.

It is perhaps ‘the’ question that India as a country should ponder upon.

The question as to why we can’t talk about Kashmir but its OK to interlocute about it (Jug Suraiya’s  editorial ‘Jargon jagran’ (Nov 5).

Kashmir is a sensitive subject in India. Arundhati Roy and S A S Geelani were accused of sedition because they tried to talk about Kashmir and the possibility of freedom for it and for their pains.

Now, this is an extreme reaction from the government and they simply blew things out of proportion. Where is democracy and where is the right to speech and expression? If the masses need someone (like an eminent person in power, experts, netas etc) to speak on their behalf, why did the constitution generalizes such rights then to every Indian citizen. There are for sure a million and one subjects that the public discusses everyday. For a simple reason that they are current and they concern humanity in one way or the other or for mere gossip. Therefore, a person voicing out his/her opinion or reacting to things around in a lawful manner cannot be considered unlawful and accused of sedition. Besides, why should the public keep their mouths shut when things are simply being procrastinated? And it’s only when the government is threatened that words like ‘accused’ become so apparent.