Liberalism is the patience and tolerance which our parents showed towards us when we started to make choices out of our culture and ethos. It is that longing of Indian parents across all communities for the child to ‘come back home’.
The classical question of many a parents ‘Beta, tum khush ho na ?’ itself provides many unsaid unanswers. Liberalism is the silent cry of the Indian parent. It is that space, that freedom which allows the young to try out new things, but knowing well, the trappings of it all. Anyone, who gives this freedom must have something large in them to give this freedom.
But, unfortunately Liberalism is seen as the license to simply eat, drink and be merry and not as the capacity to give freedom based on love and understanding. That violation of freedom is what makes Liberalism a bad word in the Indian context.
On the other hand Conservatism is the intervention when the freedom is not handled properly. That of course is not appreciated by the Youth and even Society at large, on various counts, as the goodness is taken for granted and as a right.
In fact, both Liberalism and Conservatism are like the two hands, one is more physically stronger than the other, but not against the other. But, this is not understood. It’s like a Mother and Father relationship, where one is different from the other, but not against the other. Sometimes, the Mother works, and sometimes the Father works. It’s all situational.
In India, we need to have our own definition and understanding of the term Liberalism, and not the Western version which is basically eat, drink and be merry, and which considers it as a right, rather than a privilege with the capacity to give freedom. In fact, even in the West, they complain of violation of Liberal values and are witnessing the erosion of the Liberal values which was supposed to be a means of freedom of the imposition from the Church, to discover themselves in a more freer manner, something like going in search of one’s Swadharma based on one’s own Swabhava. That got out of hand for them as they did not have a liberal spiritual system which would support that, and in the bargain they went all out and successfully created a dangerous fad out of their experimentation in the form of the youth rebellion in the 60’s, sexual freedom, alcoholism, drug abuse, atheism and all that along with it, which the world since then has been hugely affected by. It’s this Western Culture which has become the definition of ‘Liberalism’ which India has to aggresively negate by cultivating the understanding and appreciation of it’s own Culture and Ethos, based on love and understanding, and the capacity to give freedom.
The role of the Indian Education System
Cultivation of this understanding has been given a complete miss in our Western based education system, which was known to never respect Indian Culture, but to look down upon it, whereas in it are hidden the treasures of inclusivity. But, instead of seeing the treasures, the colonialists, in their efforts to destroy the pride of the Indian showcased the fault lines only, thereby caused a demoralization towards Indian Culture and Heritage. The education system today is still continuing with it. International Schools are coming up in scores, none of which have any content on Indian History, but only World History as if India does not belong to the world – and the Indian Academia is silent !!
Clearly, unless we do not develop our own understanding, we will not be able to express ourselves, but continue to exist with a slave mentality. Indian Liberalism is different from the Western Liberalism. It is certainly more superior. But, that is not the point. It’s different, and that is what the Indian Education System has to gear up to articulate to the future generations with all reason and logic, no blind faith. This has to be taken up by the schools and not left alone to the parents of today who themselves have unfortunately been educated to look up to the West and look down upon India. The Indian Academia also has gone through the same education system too, but it cannot afford to remain static and has to also wake up and smell the coffee !
Categories: Nature
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