"When we stop asking hard questions to powerful people, education stops being a search for truth. It just becomes a way to teach people how to obey."
These words by teacher Paulo Freire warn us about what happens when we stay silent. They perfectly describe what just happened at the University of London, where the Chief Justice of India (CJI) gave a speech.
Unfortunately for the organizers, things did not go as planned.
A group of people broke the rules and ruined the speech by doing something shocking: they asked questions.
Worried government supporters quickly claimed that these people were paid by a secret, global group that hates India.
These critics mistakenly thought a college hall in a free country was a place for open talk. Back home in India, the rule is simple: just nod your head and agree.
But this London crowd did not do that. Instead, they brought up uncomfortable topics like human rights, freedom to disagree, and whether the courts are truly fair.
The real trouble started when the audience reminded the Chief Justice of his own past words. He had once compared certain groups of people to "cockroaches." Instead of accepting this as a deep legal thought, the crowd wanted to know how comparing people to bugs fits with being a fair judge.
The Chief Justice should have answered these questions directly, the manner, in which, he clarified his "cockroach philosophy" back home. That would have calmed people's fears about the crackdown on protests in India.
Instead, he stayed silent. Then, Indian government officials stepped in and made the situation even more chaotic.
It is unclear if he even realizes that people outside of India see the country's claims of being a free democracy very differently.
The Indian High Commission immediately came out with a harsh statement. Their message was clear: letting a visiting VIP face real, unscripted questions is a threat to relations between countries.
This London event is even more embarrassing because it happened just days after India’s top leader showed how to avoid these risks in Norway. The Norwegian media are famous for asking tough questions that are not approved in advance.
To avoid this scary situation, the Indian team simply skipped the local press entirely. They proved that the best way to handle a hard question is to never be in the same room as the reporter.
Yet, even with this great example of how to travel the world without actually talking to it, the Chief Justice walked right into the trap of British colleges.
Legal experts are now wondering why India's smartest leaders fly thousands of miles across oceans just to face the exact same tough questions they easily avoid at home
Moving forward, experts suggest that Indian officials speaking abroad need to pick safer places. To avoid the shock of unexpected questions, future world tours should only happen in highly controlled rooms.
For now, the lesson is clear for any traveling VIP: if you want to share your thoughts with the world, make sure the world is legally banned from talking back.
