Topic: liberalism

The main enemies of grassroots vigilance are personality cult, loyalty to party 'high command', sycophancy and a controlled economy where permit-licence is a pre-condition to economic survival, Minoo Masani wrote in 1989.

The biggest capitalist has to consider what the smallest man in the market wants. This is how the consumer is king and this is what is called a free market economy, Minoo Masani wrote in 1966.

Liberty is not accepted in India as the ultimate goal of political systems. This is why, for instance, there is so much paranoia about foreign investments, wrote economist Ashok V Desai in 1995.

Today is the anti-socialist era. Libertarianism is fighting; dedicated with all its power and love of liberty. It does not matter whether it wins in the political sphere, wrote KD Valicha in 1957.

An Indian Hitler will have to be exceptionally lucky to survive for any length of time. This much hope ought to be enough for seekers of liberty and equality, wrote Sharad Anantrao Joshi, president of Swatantra Bharat Paksh party, in 1995.

‘If socialism does not serve the purposes for which it was intended, that is, moving towards a freer and more equal society, is liberalism the alternative?’ wrote Minoo Masani in 1966.

The freewheeling conversation between Das and William Dalrymple moved from Partition, Manmohan Singh, Mahabharata, and Margaret Thatcher to AI seamlessly.

The issue goes beyond name change, regime change & identity politics. It's more about challenging the notion that Europe is the last word on ideas of freedom, equality & 'Rights of Man'.

The Left in India has failed because it has become defensive about its core beliefs and started flirting with the narrow inclinations of the Right.

Freedom is like health: You don’t think about it until it’s gone. It’s been a bad year. As 2021 dawns, it's time we make the liberal case for a better future.