Free speech is important. But there is a reason some people don't think so and are okay with curbs on it. Think about it. Who needs free speech? Whose work will stop if free speech was not a guarantee? The answer is Arts students. Artists, writers, scholars, journalists etc.

These are people who, throughout their academic careers have thrived on a free exchange of ideas and lively debate. These are people whose work requires questioning and challenging the status quo. This happens among science students too, but in the Indian education system...

...science education is little more than rote learning - memorising principles and regurgitating them in examinations. The Humanities on the other hand, cannot be taught without students in a classroom raising hands and differing with the teacher. It's kind of part of the deal.

The Indian middle class not only tells its children to not question authority, it also tells them to not go into the Humanities. The overlap is not coincidental. It's part of a larger picture which has to do with open support for demagogues, hatred of intellectuals, and...

...contempt for social workers whose work necessitates showing privileged society a mirror. The result of this disregard for the Arts of course is what we are going through right now as a nation. And it's not a coincidence that a lot of people in your WhatsApp groups sharing...

...Fascist one-liners are techies. The kind of empathy one learns from literature, the appreciation for social justice one picks up from art have been missing from their lives. It leaves them morally handicapped and unable to understand why people need to make so much noise...

...over things like human rights and social justice. The saddest part of this is that scientific progress too happens on the foundation of curiosity, social responsibility, and free expression. But thanks to our mishandling of science education, all we produce are salarymen.