IS INDEPEDENCE HOPE OR DESPAIR?

On 15 August 2010, the 63rd anniversary of our independence is to be observed. It’s now time for all of us to think and ponder: Is it a day of hope or a moment of despair?
Born free as I am, I am angry beyond words with Mahatma Gandhi and others who conceived the idea of freedom for India and led people to fight with the British to achieve it. I know I may be slapped for expressing such thoughts, but, I have reason to think so.
The freedom movement held promises of a “Ram Raj”, a rule where country would not die of hunger; everyone would have food, shelter and clothing. The magic word “Swaraj” intoxicated the people. The people became morally strong and no amount of torture could calm them down. They fearlessly faced the pointed guns of the British soldiers. Heads were held high; there would be no more whiplashes on our back when independence was achieved.
Today after 63 years of independence a question comes to my mind: What did that great revolution of our countrymen result in?
All promises have ended up in smoke. Gandhiji has been conveniently forgotten. Moral standards have been drowned in the sea of hunger of power. Starvation, illiteracy, malnutrition, unemployment, price rise, corruption, violence, provincialism, terrorism - these make up our lot today.
For the overwhelming majority of Indians, i.e. farmers, landless labourers, and those belonging to the backward communities, scheduled castes and tribes, the day of 15 August had never held any special significance. The picture remains the same as it was before independence. For some there is everything under the sun to enjoy yet for the bulk of the population there is hardly anything even to aspire for.
During the entire period of 63 years, the leaders of our country depended more on clichés rather than any well-conceived programme. The clichés varied from “socialism” to “garibi hatao” to “a government that works”. No promise for any concrete social progress is either made or fulfilled. People have learnt to take everything in their stride, be it communal frenzy or corruption or terrorism or bandh or general debasement of morals.
Everything now is in a topsy turvy state. Here “hope against hope” is ideology; compromise is wisdom; delicacy is prudence; politics is a by-word; honesty is foolishness; terrorism is heroism; cheating is the order of the day.
Our free country reveals a picture of painful disparity. We produce enough food but most of our people cannot purchase it. We create wealth but it does not remove the darkness and squalor of the villages. We produce great technocrats but they serve abroad. We have great development in science and technology, but millions of our countrymen are a suffering lot.
Still, no pessimism dampens our spirit. There may be a better tomorrow, with our woes considerably lessened and a basic comfort of civilised life restored. 15 August comes year after year as a reminder of unfulfilled promises and what might have been.
As for me, I will sleep through the morning TV special to enjoy another holiday with the nagging lines coming to my mind of Antony’s lamentation on the slaying of Julius Caesar: “Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen / Then I and you and all of us fell down/ While bloody treason bloody treason flourished over us…”