Why the Indian Independence Day today has been robbed of its essence

As a nation, we tend to ritualise celebrations of momentous and historic past events.

Practiced over decades, these rituals rob the very historic moments that we want to remember and celebrate, of their true significance. Marking India’s freedom from 200 years of British colonial rule, Independence Day constitutes one such occasion for remembrance and observance. The soulless ceremonialisation of this day, however, seems to leave it devoid of the essence of freedom that is at the core of its celebration. Every 15th of August, official rituals are conducted, patriotic songs sung, the tricolour unfurled at the Red Fort and scores of other public spaces throughout the nation.

But beyond the pomp and political hype, this is also the moment to conjure up the idea of the nation we were meant to be. It is an occasion to ask whether we have enriched the imagination that was supposed to have transitioned India into becoming a nation richer, not just economically, but politically and socially as well. 

That this Independence Day comes on the heels of the disastrous monsoon session of Parliament ending on a note of bitter charade, might well be a mere coincidence. But we may appear too charitable to ourselves if we do not move beyond noting the superficiality of the timing; if we do not realise that the coincidence is part of a larger narrative informing us about the direction India is headed in. It may not then be an exaggeration to argue that the proximity of the two events is a signifier of the contours shaping the idea of the contemporary Indian republic.

The unseemly scenes unfolding through the weeks on the floor of the House and the vision of politicians flinging no-holds-barred personal charges at each other seem to reveal that the very site of parliamentary democracy — its crucible — is increasingly under threat. In a manner of speaking, Parliament can be defined as one of the most important sites of Indian independence. This is where the first government of the post-colonial nation sat and thrashed out the divergent viewpoints on the Constitution; the template that promised us equality and freedom to practice our diverse religions and ways of life.

Yet more than 60 years later we are confronted with distortions that are subverting that idea of India. There is a slide in the values that were supposed to have been the bedrock of Indian civilisation and its multi-religious, multi-cultural fabric. The political classes which are to uphold and safeguard the values of the republic seem to have been waylaid into playing the cynical game of realpolitik. There is need to introspect and look within ourselves as a nation and a society.

The idea of India, if it is to be rescued and reinvented as imagined by the freedom fighters who liberated India from colonial rulers, calls for a renewal of the processes that would revive the democratic spirit of the nation, and its intrinsic doctrine of freedom, equality and secularism. The widening chasm of inequality along the axes of classes and castes and gender has to be bridged. The principle of equality needs to be reinstated as the cornerstone of the republic. The weakest amongst us must be protected against the forces of violence driven by patriarchy, communalism and self-styled moral custodians preaching intolerance of ‘Others’. The differently abled, the homosexuals, lesbians and transvestites must be given equal citizenship rights. Discrimination in every walk of life has to end.

One of the defining markers of a civilised society is its strict application of the rule of law; its ability to bring to book the perpetrators of violence in public and private spaces; even more importantly, its tireless endeavour to contain the processes of violence, and eliminate them as far as possible.

The polity of India as it stands today looks uneven. But that is not all that the nation stands for. The optimists among us would point towards the advances made by India in several sectors — information technology, education — the spread of literacy, alleviation of poverty, besides the glitter of fast expanding cities, the building of highways and roads. At the time of independence, India was a desperately poor country that, in its quest to become a sovereign republic, was embarking on an uncertain journey. After decades of struggle, we can feel a sense of pride in overcoming the obstacles once considered insurmountable; in extricating large numbers of people from poverty as the Indian economy moved out of the morass of stagnation and stunted growth. The revolution in mobile telecommunication bringing large numbers of people — near and far — within a unified network system, facilitating increased communication and deepening the spread of information.

Outside of the government, the emergence of the civil society, as a demanding and strong stakeholder in governance, has opened up new spaces of intervention and discourse. Their constant vigilance and demand for transparency and accountability have jolted the entrenched systems of corruption. Social, political and gender justice are becoming part of mainstream public discourse. The proliferation of media is generating greater awareness among common people who are becoming catalysts to processes of reform and change. Breaking the stranglehold of centralised hegemony, the demand for true federalism is gaining ground as is the demand for participatory democracy.

Citing statistics of growth and data on poverty alleviation, the optimists would say that these were the very ideas that were nurtured by the original founders of the Indian republic. They envisioned building a modern, fast-growing India. True, great strides have indeed been made over the last decades. On this 69th Independence Day, India can look to the future with new optimism and hope. It can renew the pledges that its founding fathers made this day in 1947.