Two things form the bedrock of any open society - freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don't have those things, you don't have a free country.

Two things form the bedrock of any open society — freedom of expression and rule of law. If you don’t have those things, you don’t have a free country."

[Don’t allow religious hooligans to dictate terms (The Times of India, January 16, 2008)]

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.

What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist

A question I have often asked is, ‘What would an inoffensive political cartoon look like?’ What would a respectful cartoon look like? The form requires disrespect and so if we are going to have in the world things like cartoons and satire, we just have to accept it as part of the price of freedom."

(Interview, The Hindu, 2012)

In any society that is governed by the rule of law, some form of morality is always imposed. It's inescapable.