From free speech and association to freedom from ‘abnormality’

By Rosamma Thomas 
When Elon Musk took over Twitter in 2022 in a $44 billion deal, he was hailed as a champion of free speech, for he undid some of the censorship that occurred to control the Covid narrative. It did not take long, however, for the cat to emerge from the bag – by January 2024, as journalists got de-platformed, it became evident that Musk was attempting to control the narrative by kicking his critics out of the social media space that he renamed “X”.
Soon enough, it became clear that the site could be easily manipulated – although X challenged takedown orders from the Government of India, a Karnataka court ruled that the free speech guarantee in the Constitution of India applies to Indian citizens, not foreign firms. The government introduced the Sahyog portal to streamline the removal of content deemed unlawful – and in a statement in February 2024, X explained that not complying with takedown requests from the Government of India could result in significant fines or imprisonment.
X is privately owned, and not bound to respond to requests for information from the general public. It can limit the login of users and throw them out of the platform, and not have to explain the decision to anyone at all. There is a problem with using that kind of platform for discussions of issues concerning governance and justice, which affect us all – we need means of communication and organization that cannot be controlled as easily, to be truly free.
Face-to-face communication, meeting and talking -- governments and technology cannot easily control those. Lockdowns are imposed with the expectation of limiting such freedoms, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently advocated work from home as a strategy to reduce dependence on fuel. Isolation is also necessary in order to get people to feel heightened fear.
We need, in India, to return to the tactics of Gandhi, who inspired people to rise above their own selves and battle fear through solidarity. Waves after waves of protesters would face the lathis of brutal colonial policemen, committed to non-violent resistance in the face of grave provocation. We need again, that courage to disobey unjust laws, to gather together and plan resistance to wrest back control of our lives.
The Constitution of India, our weapon in struggle, is rendered impotent when altered without public consultation, in the face of stiff resistance. Labour laws have changed; our powers of collective decision-making on the environment have been grossly diluted. There are, however, principles of justice that precede the Constitution. When the Union Home Minister announces that “abnormal reasons” are causing demographic change, then “We the People” must rise to set right the abnormality that is the Government of India.