The beauty, indeed strength, of democracy lies in its ambient noise. This buzz is emblematic of a frank and fearless exchange of views. Since the inception of the Republic, India has succeeded in retaining its character of a noisy democracy. This is not to suggest that there have not been attempts to silence this cacophony, which is an indicator of the health of the democracy. The Emergency was one of the starkest examples of such diabolical intervention. It now appears that another Emergency is being imposed, albeit discreetly. The administration in two states, both ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party that is known to be allergic to the drone of democracy, decided to impose prohibitory orders to prevent scheduled public protests led by over 60 organizations against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, a contentious, unconstitutional legislation that seeks to put the idea of citizenship to the religious test. Catching a whiff of the protest, Karnataka acted swiftly, bringing Bangalore and at least two other cities in the state under Section 144, which prevents the assembly of four or more citizens. Uttar Pradesh was even more ambitious; it brought the entire state under this section. The objective is quite obvious. Stifling dissenting voices, be it with the help of draconian legal provisions or with the storm troopers of the State who were recently unleashed on protesting students, comes naturally to dispensations that find the contrarian view untenable, even in a democracy.

But it can be argued with reason that the public mood remains belligerent. Hundreds of people decided to defy the gag in Bangalore and protest against the CAA, only to be confronted by the force of the police. Thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in several other states. The spirited defence of constitutional values by ordinary people is inspiring. But the response of the government has left a lot to be desired. The prime minister, who had earlier been inspirational with his clarion call to make development inclusive, has now attempted to give a blatantly divisive spin to the unrest by saying that one could make out the identity of the agitators from their clothes. Unfortunately for Narendra Modi, the protests that were initially led by valourous students have now attained a distinctly collective character. They could not have attained such a scale otherwise. Mr Modi must address and resolve the reasons of the anxiety. That is what a pluralist democracy expects from its prime minister.