When we call ourselves conservative what do we actually mean? We mean four things in my understanding.
First that we base to our opinions on the basis of facts and figures. We are not liberals to live in the fantasy world, we are not the left wing to believe in propaganda. As a conservative, as the right wing, we believe, we based our opinion on the facts and figures.
Number two, is that we see the world as it is, we do not see the world as we want it to be and this is what which differentiate ourselves from the liberals or from the other side, be the left side or any other side. We see the world exactly, we try to see the world exactly how it is. Now that is a very difficult thing to do. Because all of us come with our own pre notions of thing our own understanding, our own social conditioning. So this is just next to impossible to see the world as it is, but, we try our best to do so.
Third thing is that we believe that while liberty and freedom is important, is absolutely necessity. But that’s not the only game in the town. Now a days we see a lots of clamour among the people when they say freedom of expression, they say liberty, this is my right, I will do as in want to do, I want azadi, our infamous azadi, and we get from JNU. Their argument is that the civilizations have grown only because of absolute liberty or absolute freedom of expression. Well, as the conservatives, we disagree with that. We say that while it is important, that is not the only game in town. There are other factors as well. There has to be an order in the society as well. Without order, there is no liberty. Without a state, without a strong state which can guarantee your freedom and guarantee you liberty and can guarantee your freedom of expression, all these things will not exist, you can talk about them, you can talk about various rights that ‘this is my right, that is my right’. But right is a right only when it is written down and guaranteed by a state. Otherwise there is no one to enforce your rights. So we also believe in a state, in an effective state, in a strong state.
Number four, in India, we believe that Indian civilization and culture is something worth defending and it has the right to defend itself and it has the right to flourish and it has the right to propagate itself as well. This is quite unlike many of the people on the liberal side or even on the left side believe in. For them India is just an oppressive outdated entity which has no business to be there in the modern world.
Liberal is a word derived from ancient Roman Latin that meant, ” To be born a free man!”
Conservative as I understand it means “Authoritarianism!”
You are right that societies require laws to protect itself from harm and provide stability and peace, but these controls need to be limited or else a particular authoritarian group will gain power and interfere in the personal affairs of people where it has no business.