Freedom, then and now!

 

 

Freedom, then and now!

India is celebrating 73rd anniversary of freedom from the British imperialism. No other event in Indian history had galvanized the Indians cutting across religions and communities as the freedom movement, uniting them to fight for the freedom.  On 15 August, 1947, Pandit Nehru said at a press meet: “the appointed day has come – the day appointed by destiny- India stands forth again after long slumber and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. A new star rises, the star of freedom in the East, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materializes.”  In his broadcast to the nation, he pledged as the ‘first servant of the Indian people’ to serve them for their betterment, dedicating to truth and aesthetic values, emphasizing on realizing the ideals and objectives  that guided the freedom movement through worthy means. It was a pledge to make India a great nation, having no place for class distinctions and discrimination based on birth or caste or religion, to build a free and democratic India where every individual shall have equality of status and opportunities, and to secure freedom from fear, “for fear is not only ignoble but is also the parent of hatred and violence.”

In his first letter dated 15 October 1947, just two months after the independence, addressed to the Prime Ministers of provincial governments (designated as such till the adoption of the Constitution), setting priorities of free India, he addressed the question of Muslims who opted to stay in India, after the partition.: “I know there is a certain amount of feeling in the country…that the Central Government has somehow or other been weak and following a policy of appeasement towards Muslims.  This, of course, is complete nonsense. There is no question of weakness or appeasement.  We have a Muslim minority who are so large in numbers that they cannot, even if they want to, go anywhere else…we have got to deal with this minority in a civilized manner. We must give them security and the rights of citizens in a democratic State. If we fail to do so, we shall have a festering sore which will eventually poison the whole body politic and probably destroy it."  

And in another letter to the Chief Ministers dated 1 March 1950, he was more emphatic: “If India is to progress, we must absorb, and make our own the various minorities in India, and notably the Muslims...  There is a tendency among some of us to demand loyalty from the Muslims in India …I think it is wrong to lay stress always on the loyalty on behalf of the Muslims of India. Loyalty is not produced to order or by fear.” It comes as a natural growth from circumstances which make loyalty not only sentiment which appeals to one but also beneficial in the long run.  It is important to create the conditions which lead to this sentiment being produced which could come only when the minorities are not discriminated to develop a sense of affinity with the rest of India.

Today, that sense of security among the Indian Muslims is threatened, undoing all the efforts to make them feel secure.  How does one explain the unilateral and arbitrary abrogation of not only the special status to the only Muslim majority state of the Indian Union- Jammu and Kashmir- but also dismembering it and dividing it into two Union Terrorizes, and the rest of India rejoicing? There can be no greater injustice and humiliation than this double whammy. The people of the State are under lockdown and surveillance for more than a year, deprived of the basic rights, the livelihood, and living in constant fear of a police state, totally alienated and cut-off from the main stream India.  And how does one reconcile that in a secular India the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 discriminating the migrant Muslims on the ground of religion in conferring the Indian citizenship?

Another disturbing development is the loss of academic freedom and autonomy  of universities and the institutions of higher learning and their increasing politicization.  The joy of young people studying in a public universities and receiving  quality education  in stimulating academic environment is lost. What Nehru said in his address to a special convocation of the University of Allahabad on December 13, 1947, is very apt in the context of what is happening in Indian universities: "A university stands for humanism, for tolerance, for reason, for progress, for the adventure of ideas and for the search for truth. It stands for the onward march of the human race towards even higher objectives. If the universities discharge their duty adequately, then it is well with the nation and the people. But if the temple of learning itself becomes a home for narrow bigotry and petty objectives, how then will the nation prosper or a people grow in stature?” It is important the academics, the intellectuals, the policy makers and those concerned about the state of affairs in higher education ponder over what he had said then. How can the human mind grow and evolve if the very learning and thought processes are conditioned and controlled? The universities are expected to create intellectual atmosphere, encouraging free discussions and debates on the issues concerning the Society and the State.

Democracy is a rule by majority. However, to ensure that the majority community doesn’t dominate the political, social and economic sphere, and that democracy is not reduced to majoritarianism, the constitution guarantees the fundamental rights to all citizens, providing independent institutions to protect and preserve the rights of minorities and vulnerable sections, ensuring checks and balances. It is an assurance of just and fair administration by the State apparatus. The independent democratic institutions such as the Judiciary, the Press, the Bureaucracy, the Election Commission, the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Central Vigilance Commission, the investigating and the law enforcing agencies are expected to function in unbiased manner and enforce the laws uniformly throughout the country. There is no such thing as “One Nation, one Flag and one Language” in the constitutional framework.  A plural society can live in peace and harmony only by observing the principle of ‘unity in diversity’.

Likewise, the civil servants and the police are made politically neutral so that they can discharge their duties in a transparent non partisan manner. However, these days they are more eager to do what is politically correct, rather than do what is morally and legally right, to gain pecuniary benefits. They have become subservient to their political masters. The selective raids by the State agencies - ED, IT, CBI - on opposition political leaders, at the bidding of the ruling dispensation, make a mockery of the rule of law, undermining the people’s faith in democracy and  the governance of the country. 

The Judiciary has failed to check the rise of authoritarianism and the abuse of power and authority by the executive.  The historian Ramachandra Guha observes: "The Supreme Court of today may come to be viewed by future generations of Indians not merely as an executive Court, but as a collaborationist Court."  Similarly, the Press is no longer free, alert and vibrant. The Media is in collusion of silence, and surrendered its role of a watchdog, failing to discharge its basic function of critically  scrutinizing the actions of public authorities and contributing to informed public opinion in order to arrest the false narrative and suppression of information by the establishment.  And the civil society, which was so critical and unsparing of the UPA Government for its various alleged acts of omission and commission, has now gone into oblivion. And where is the Lokpal that the Anna Hazare movement claimed to be a penance for all corruption and misgovernance! The ideals of the freedom struggle have gone sour,reducing  the celebration of Independence Day  to a mere ritual.