By Sanamjeet Singh, Student of Journalism
We got independence on the 15th of August, 1947, the historical day for all Indians. 26th January remarked as the introduction of our Constitution which gave birth to a democratic and sovereign nation. To get here, a lot of people who were no less than a legend sacrificed themselves in the name of freedom for their country. With the advent of democracy, basic human rights were acknowledged which today appears to be menaced. Rights such as freedom of speech are being taken away from us. The preamble to our constitution defines our nation as a Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic, however, given the actions of the authorities, in various cases in the past few years, it seems as if the Nation is democratic only till the people do not express their opinions. Even posting on social media can send you to jail especially if a powerful politician is offended. The fourth pillar of democracy ” The Media ” has now been said to be controlled by powerful authorities. Any journalist who wishes to keep their own opinion about the matter which implies the intention of the ruling party is hushed simply by putting them in lockup or by jeopardizing them. The media companies which fulfill the demands remain safe from the mockery by the powerful politicians. So, it seems that the media is either being sold or scared. According to the study titled Getting Away with Murder,” there were 40 killings of journalists between 2014-2019. Of these 21 have been confirmed as related to their journalism.
Now moving towards the latest case of Rajya Sabha where two farm bills were passed without the division but a voice vote further justifying that the opposition members were not on their seat when asked for physical voting which by the evidence is not true.
There was a huge bustle created by the opposition members then. They broke the microphones, stood up on tables, and flung the paper in the air. They said it was a disgrace to democracy. Opinions of other members of Rajya Sabha didn’t matter at all. The members responded in order to prevent the bill to be passed. According to them, the bill was not ” Farmer Friendly”. It needed reforms. Hence the parliament was aware of the fact that they are in no position to pass it with physical votes and took the matter into their own hands. Clearly, it was the assassination of democracy.