Azadi Mubarak – Greetings on the Independence Day
August 15, National Festival the Independence Day of India is being celebrated as usual with great pomp and show and rightly so. India has come a long way since independence in August 1947 and becoming a Republic in January, 1950. India is the biggest functional democracy in the world, there is no two opinions on this. India is the
world’s 4th largest economy which is also one of fastest growing economies. Demographically, India is one of the youngest nations. With this, India is one of the dignified and respected countries in the comity of nations. These positive trends notwithstanding, it is also true that India is still a poor developing country. With a view to ward off hunger, according to official admission, more than 85 crores of the population of more than 140 crores is fed by the state. Income disparities are increasing; rich is getting richer and poor is getting poorer. The core sectors of social cover; health and education has not been given due attention as pointed out by RSS Chief, Mohan Bhagwat the other day. Democratic edifice of the country is increasingly getting under threat by the every passing day, if one goes by the allegations of the opposition both in the parliament and outside. Communal harmony is hard hit for which the blame game is resorted to quite often. The main stream of the society is still having the hangover of oppressive Manuwad, unfortunately. Constitutional institutions like the Election Commission, Judiciary among others and also outfits like IB, CBI, ED etc. are alleged being undermined systematically. These are some of the issues and aspects of the governance which undermine the national interests. We are still to go a long way to reach. Going by the positive aspects of our journey, we have reached, perhaps, but definitely we need to sit, think and ready ourselves to reach to complete out ‘tryst with destiny’ as professed by PM Jawaharlal Nehru.
PM Narendra Modi will address the nation from the traditional ramparts of the Red Fort in the morning of August 15 in his 12th year of being at the helm of the national destiny. As usual, it will be a high-bolt delivery listing the glory and achievements at home and also self-pat on the back for India’s rising profile in the world affairs particularly with reference to Operation Sindoor, inter alia. There is
no harm in stock taking exercise as the Pradhan Sewak of the country and PM of ‘we the people of India. Apart from listing the achievements and successes, the occasion should also be availed of to contemplate the tardy implementation of the policies resulting in not fulfilling the promises made to the people of India in a true spirit of democracy. Let us hope that this time at the 79th year of Independence; we listen from the PM as to what ails - the polity, economy and society of Bharat and what the way out is to move forward. My wishful thinking about these matters –
·
Address the trust deficit between the ruling dispensation and opposition – It seems that we reached a
dead-end in this regard which is not a good trend for a healthy democratic set
up. Political consultation, deliberations and discourse both in and outside the
parliament should be encouraged instead of resorting to mud-slinging,
un-substituted allegations. Criticism and disagreements should not be
considered ‘Deshdiroh’ – unpatriotic.
·
Address the declining status and prestige of Constitutional institutions – This very dangerous malice has increasing
crept in our functioning, a very negation of democracy which is based on checks
and balances. The dictum of checks and balances gets compromised, if the
Constitutional and statutory authorities like the Election Commission, CAG,
CBI, ED, National SC Commission among others start working as government
departments.
·
Address the issue of wide spread corruption – One may or may not admit,
corruption is one of the main ills of our polity and governance which is eating
the vitals of the country and the society at large. In spite of all claims of
zero tolerance towards corruption, it is prevailing and getting accepted as a norm
increasingly. Corruption at the low levels is all the more irksome and
bothering. I have seen in Japan and Sweden, governments often fell because of
corruption but in the general public at the functional levels, people didn’t
know what corruption was? The situation is the other way round in our Bharat.
·
Consensus on issues of national security, integrity and sovereignty – Of late, it has been observed that
our political leadership has tended to forget some basic needs of the lofty
agenda of ‘India first and India last’ as visualized by our fore-fathers led by
Babasaheb Ambedkar. Policy disagreements notwithstanding, the ruling party and
the opposition must pay a bit more attention and consideration to these aspects
to meet the challenges to the national security and integrity to safe guard
sovereignty of our country.
·
Communal harmony amidst socio-cultural diversity – If the socio-cultural fabric of the
country gets affected by the communal overtones of the two major communities
that is Hindus and Muslims things will go wrong for the country. Secular
credentials of the country should be maintained and protected by all means
shedding the unnecessary controversy whether the word secular should be deleted
or retained in the preamble of the constitution of India. India should remain a
secular country with diverse socio-cultural underpinning. PM Narendra Modi’s
slogan – Sab Ka Vikas, Sab Ka Sath, Sab Ka Paryas, Sab Ka Vishvas is the only
mantra to transform India into Bharat.
·
Strengthen Affirmative Action for Equality – The curse of caste is one of the
biggest challenges to the social structures of the country. Despite
reservations and other affirmative actions to uplift and empower the weaker sections
of the society, nothing much has changed. The government policies are not
implemented honestly. The social outfits like RSS and SGPC among others should
undertake to address the malice of caste head on. I fully endorse the lofty
agenda of Samrasta of RSS. But there is a need to take out on the ground from
the cosy air-conditioned rooms by shedding the garb of Manuwadi approaches.
India cannot become a Viksat Bharat by 2047, as visualized by PM Narendra Modi,
if dalits and adivasis are not integrated to the main stream of the society.
I have
listed these points and my thoughts of the cuff not as any criticism but as a
concerned and interested stake holder in the development of our country and transformation
of the society to meet the challenges of the future. It will be in order, if I
recall the warnings of Babasaheb Ambedkar, one of the biggest sons of the
contemporary India which he gave to the nation at the dawn of independence on November
25, 1949 in the Constituent Assembly before the Constitution of India was finally
enacted and adopted by ‘We the people of India’. These visionary assertions of
the great leader are as relevant today as these were then in 1949 –
- avoid hero-worship as it leads to
dictatorship
- work towards a social not just a
political – democracy
- avoid giving preference to personal castes
and creeds above the national creed/interest
With these thoughts of a lay man, I conclude this piece with
Greetings to all my fellow citizens on the Independence of India, August 15 -
चिश्ती ने जिस ज़मीं में पैग़ाम-ए-हक़ सुनाया
नानक ने जिस चमन में वहदत का गीत गाया
मेरा वतन वही है मेरा वतन वही है
सारे जहाँ को जिस ने इल्म ओ हुनर दिया था
मेरा वतन वही है मेरा वतन वही है
जन्नत की ज़िंदगी है जिस की फ़ज़ा में जीना
मेरा वतन वही है मेरा वतन
Very nice.
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