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 India’s Elusive Freedom that never was.

To understand why our freedom remains elusive, let us come back to our first sentence. I have used the word ‘ostensibly’ because I don’t believe in that statement. For one, it would be way too naïve to actually believe that India ‘won’ her freedom; well, it’s at least not entirely true. With all due respect to all our great freedom fighters, there were many more things that contributed to India’s change of guard. The most important among them was the collapse of Britain after the Second World War, which despite being on the winning side had been rendered weak and bankrupt and could no longer govern a country as vast as India. The newly formed UNO had, accordingly, passed a resolution in favour of de-colonization. Many colonies gained ‘freedom’ in those few years, India being one of them. But all said and done, the foundations on which our newly formed country lay were still, and still are- Imperial. Our form of Government, our Judiciary, our Laws and our Civil Service- all bear the indelible mark of our Imperial Legacy. This is why I have referred to India’s alleged freedom as merely a change of guard- White out, Brown in.

The second part of the sentence under discussion states that this freedom was won from Colonial Powers. I beg to differ. Today, in 2018 no one can deny the fact that we have been overtaken by neo-colonization. The primary purpose of establishing the erstwhile colonies was to open up new and sustainable markets for the Colonial regime. Go to any retail store, any mall, any supermarket and you will see colonization all over the place. The food we eat and the refreshments we drink, the clothes we wear and the accessories we use, the toys our kids play with and even the schools that they attend- from soap to car to even national defense equipment- almost everything has been manufactured by an MNC that seeks to sell its product here. No, not only seeks to sell its product, but makes sure that only their products are sold, at the ruthless expense of its local competitors. In order to achieve this, the highest levels of Government policies of the ‘market country’ are unscrupulously influenced by the Colonial companies; their local economy and entrepreneurship be damned! What else is Colonization then, may I ask?

The third part of the by-now dubious sentence reads that India became Independent. No, and a loud NO! India is still not independent in the true sense of the word. Our legislators may be Indian, but the laws they legislate are not independent of foreign diktats. Our foreign policy is subservient to the overt dictations of war-mongering Superpowers. Our Judiciary is no longer independent of the pervert influence of our reigning politicians. Our Media houses are not free to print and air the truth; nor are our academicians in the least bit independent of the ideological interference of the powers-that-be when they design our textbooks. Nay, the rampant saffronization of Education (though by no means a recent curse) which has gained momentum these days is evident not only in Moral Science and History textbooks but has also spread its tentacles in the films we see and the serials we view.

Indians are not free, my friend. It was the British who enslaved us some decades back and it is our disgraceful and pathetic politicians who are enslaving us now. Their being Indian does not make them any better. They are as much interested in looting this country as were the British- all political parties included, no favourites here. The truly patriotic overwhelming majority is still reeling under the fetters of unemployment, ever-increasing prices, malnourishment, poor healthcare, illiteracy, injustice, lack of security of life and property, their lands are being usurped under the pretext of some vague idea of development, their habitats are being blown up to satisfy the greed of a handful of mining companies, their men are being branded anti-national and Naxalites/Maoists to get rid of them through ‘legal’ means, young innocent men are being labeled terrorists and locked up in prisons only to be acquitted decades later for want of evidence, churches are being burned down, masjids are being demolished and desecrated… Life has become miserable for the poor and the lower middle class who are no longer ‘living’ in this Free India; they are only surviving- one day at a time. Alas!

True freedom can only be achieved by submitting ourselves to our Creator. There is no such thing as Absolute Freedom; what we need to do is to liberate ourselves from the bondages of men and surrender ourselves to the slavery of the Almighty. Let His be the Sovereignty on earth as it is in Heaven. Let our laws be legislated under Divine guidance; let out education and arts, our research and our media, our policies and administration, our businesses and trade, our personal and public life- all be a reflection of His Will, then and only then can we proudly claim, “Yes, we are free.”

Dr. Parvez Mandviwala