The Supreme Court lawyer Justice DY Chandrachud said that just because someone is accepting and tolerant of others’ opinions does not make them tolerant to hate speech.
While speaking on the convocation address at Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) in Gandhinagar,Justice Chandrachud he urged the graduating students to be guided by their “own conscience and equitable reason”.
While delivering his speech through a video link ,Justice talked about the world of social media “
He quoted the words of famous Voltaire who said ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to death your right to say it,’ must be incorporated into our being.
He further said that making mistakes, being accepting and tolerant to the opinions of others by no means translates to blind conformity, and it does not mean not standing up against hate speech,”
He said to the students that when you step into the outer World -the increasing noise and confusion of political, social and moral clashes of majority, will disturb you..but you must be guided by the path of your “own conscience and equitable reasons
Quoting the famous writer Seth Godin’s analogy of the current and the wind, he said “On the river, it is the current that will move the canoe far more than the wind will. But the wind distracts us….The current is our persistent systems of class and race and gender, and powerful industry economy. And if I may add, in our context, caste as well.
The current can be overcome, but it takes “focused effort,” the judge said.