India’s Elusive Freedom
INDIA ’S ELUSIVE FREEDOM A Freedom that never was…. 15 th of August 1947 is remembered in history as the day India ostensibly won her freedom from Colonial Powers and became Independent. The sense of pride associated with this apocryphal statement notwithstanding, Indians have surely never been able to taste that promised freedom even after 71 years today; and nor was it offered to them then, that day when Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru gave his memorable speech heralding India’s change of guard. For, at that very moment when the fulfillment of the ‘Tryst with Destiny’ was being announced, thousands of Indians were being killed, looted and raped. India was burning at both- her Eastern and Western borders. Riots of apocalyptic proportions had erupted on either sides of these fences and millions were displaced to an uncertain and tumultuous future. Those riots have been followed up with thousands more over the years, raising their grotesque faces every now and then, reminding us of