Independence Day is about freedom. August 15 is an emotional and intellectual code, invoked to connote a state of mind and existence that knows no bounds except those defined in a compact given unto us by ourselves. The day is the vantage point, our Red Fort, to look at the road we have traversed and the road ahead, and to reflect on what we have done with the freedom we gained. The nation was founded on the best ideals of democracy, equality, and fraternity among people, irrespective of religion, language or race. These ideals were to be realised within the expanding contours of freedom promised by our tryst with destiny. The question we should pose to ourselves is whether those contours have expanded or shrunk.

They have shrunk. Resistance came in an unprecedented mobilisation of youth at Jantar Mantar, turning grievances over a flawed examination system into a collective call for accountability, breaking the BJP government’s facade of invincibility and energising voices of dissent. That resistance matters in a time of shrinking freedoms. The charter of rights at the heart of the Constitution is under pressure. The right to life is not a given when citizens can be easily arrested under draconian laws and kept in jail indefinitely. The right to free speech is not real when criticism attracts repression and vengeance. Religious freedom exists in the book, but majoritarian pressures and targeted legislation have soured the lived experience of minorities. The country ranks low on all the indices of freedom, with an overall score that evaluates it as partly free.

India has achieved much since it attained nationhood. We have the world’s sixth-largest economy and have made progress in every field of life. But we have not gone far enough on our goals and promises, and slipped on the most fundamental promise of August 15. That is about a life in democracy, about strengthening its processes and institutions, about the idea of a union of states, about liberty, equality, and fraternity. When parliament is disrespected and weakened, the right to vote is arbitrarily denied, and even citizenship is uncertain, we fail the spirit of August 15. There is stirring rhetoric from the ramparts of the Red Fort about accomplishments, promises, and new ideas and ideals. But beyond the words, the day gives us an opportunity to redeem the pledge taken on freedom’s first dawn. Hope and determination should sustain us to realise a future that will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman. (Source: DH)