Posted on 06/01/2023
The birds they sang At the break of day Start again I heard them say Don’t dwell on what has passed away Or what is yet to be Ah, the wars they will be fought again The holy dove, she will be caught again Bought and sold, and bought again The dove is never free Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in We asked for signs The signs were sent The birth betrayed The marriage spent Yeah, and the widowhood Of every government Signs for all to see I can’t run no more With that lawless crowd While the killers in high places Say their prayers out loud But they’ve summoned, they’ve summoned up A thundercloud They’re going to hear from me Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in You can add up the parts But you won’t have the sum You can strike up the march There is no drum Every heart, every heart To love will come But like a refugee Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack, a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in That’s how the light gets in That’s how the light gets in
When the citizens of the Indian republic are suffering from injustice, hunger, unemployment, climate catastrophe and have lost their faith⤡ in democracy in general, they have heard a courageous voice from one of the pillars of democracy, i.e., judiciary, on the issue of the Demonetization move⤡.
Truth cannot always be asserted by majoritarian decision-making process. Democracy thrives through dissent and the expression of the “other voices”, which are not suppressed through the tyranny of the majority.
Remember the precedent set by the apex court of our country in the year 2018?
Dissent safety valve of democracy, pressure cooker will burst if not allowed, says SC VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 31st August, 2018 ©The Indian Express)
More such examples could be found in Socrates’ trial and death, Galileo’s inquisition and forced confession, burning of Giordano Bruno, the murder of the De’witt Brothers in Netherlands etc. All these dissenting voices were mercilessly suppressed by the delusional majority. However, history proved the majority verdict wrong in each case.
Whatever be the case: e pur si muove, i.e., “it still moves”.
Let us go through the following extract from Plato’s dialogue “Crito“:
Soc. But why, my dear Crito, should we care about the opinion of the many? Good men, and they are the only persons who are worth considering, will think of these things truly as they happened.
Cr. But do you see. Socrates, that the opinion of the many must be regarded, as is evident in your own case, because they can do the very greatest evil to anyone who has lost their good opinion?
Soc. I only wish, Crito, that they could; for then they could also do the greatest good, and that would be well. But the truth is, that they can do neither good nor evil: they cannot make a man wise or make him foolish; and whatever they do is the result of chance.
The face of the Non-Godi Media has systematically discussed the entire issue with the Demonetization verdict (2nd January, 2023) in detail:
Mr. Kumar has pertinently referred to Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman’s book Discordant Notes: The Voice of Dissent in the Last Court of Last Resort (in two volumes):
Tracing, exploring and analysing all dissenting judgments in the history of the Supreme Court of India, from the beginning till date, Rohinton Fali Nariman brings to light the cases, which created a deep impact in India’s legal history. From the famous Bengal Immunity Co. Ltd. v. State of Bihar in 1955 to Bhagwandas Goverdhandas Kedia v. Girdharilal Pashottamdas and Co. in 1966, State of Bombay v. The United Motors (India) Ltd in 1953, Superintendent & Legal Remembrancer, State of West Bengal v. Corporation of Calcutta in 1967, Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association v. Union of India in 1993, Mafatlal Industries v. Union of India in 1997 and Pradeep Kumar Biswas v. Indian Institute of Chemical Biology in 2002, Keshava Madhava Menon v. State of Bombay in 1951, United Commercial Bank Ltd. v. Workmen and Ram Singh v. The State of Delhi in the same year and Union of India v. West Coast Paper Mills Ltd. in 2004 among others, this two-volume definitive work is a thorough examination of the important dissenting judgments of the Supreme Court of India, and of some of the Judges of the Supreme Court who have gone down as ‘Great Dissenters’, for having written dissents of legal and constitutional importance, some of which have gone on to be recognised as correct position of the law. Discordant Notes: The Voice of Dissent in the Last Court of Last Resort⤡ ⤡
When we, the supposed citizens of India, are witnessing that the discharged jailbirds are garlanded and are fed sweets by the associates of the ruling party; when wilful defaulters are moving scot-free across the globe; when the fictitious Ram Mandir is supported by the judiciary—– it is high time to raise the voice of disagreement, dissent and opposition in order to check the illegitimate rise of the centralized sovereign in the context of wounded India⤡.
Thanks to the two faces of the two pillars of democracy: Justice Nagarathna and journalist Ravish Kumar along with all the crowd-funded Non-Godi Media journalists for their art of resistance.
For a detailed profile, read here: https://t.co/SVAkDQ5wG6 – @kdrajagopal — The Hindu (@the_hindu) August 29, 2021
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