Uma Purkayastha asks a pertinent question – are we really free? A state where the mind is without fear?
By Uma Purkayastha
India gained Independence after long struggle and sacrifice of innumerable lives at the cost of making Mother India free from the clutches of its imperialist forces, the British. August 15 2023, celebrates the 76th year of Indian Independence. It is the day of reminiscences and reflections. On the first Independence Day 1947, the people’s dream read something like – ‘Today, we have in front of us – the refreshing brightness of a noble dawn! Everywhere in the nation, there is the advent of the freshness of the morning mist. The country reborn has risen from a deep slumber of foreign dominion. We have triumphed after a long penance. We have left behind an era of darkness and aching pain; with thousands of our comrades fearlessly sacrificing their lives. At this moment of success of our penance, we respectfully remember the contributions of the freedom fighters and martyrs. As long as the National Soul is alive, the contribution made by the great patriots will glitter in golden colours’…… was the expression of Kalpana Gupta, the first woman to be a journalist from Assam on 15th August 1947. [‘ajo nityah’ by Kaverri.]
The question beckons, could the nation fulfil that dream? Could the nation achieve real Independence where ‘The mind is without fear and the head held high’, which the great poet Tagore dreamt of? The freedom fighters dreamt of an Independent India where the people can move freely without any discrimination of caste, religion, gender and other social inequalities. They dreamt of that democracy in India where there will remain equal access to Fundamental Rights to each and every citizen irrespective of their status, language and religion. Could the nation achieve that Independence?
Even after 76 years of achieving Independence, in India, the birth of a girl is not welcomed in many parts of the country. Social crimes like female infanticide and female foeticide, forced rape and murder, domestic violence and other forms of discrimination against women are rampant in the society. It is so unfortunate that women, even minor girls, are not at all safe and secure in our Independent India, where women were once highly honoured! This is only one such example. The nation bleeds with divided groups and factions that are ready to tear each other apart.
Whom should we blame for that? The administration? Law and Order? Everything will go in vain unless each and every citizen of India is alert and conscious of their own morality. By administration and law and order, a guilty person may be punished physically, but rectification of morality can not be achieved without perfect counselling and proper guidance.
It was 15th August 1947, the first Independence Day of India, after centuries of subservience under the colonial forces that gave an unprecedented feeling of joy and fulfilment of a long cherished desire of the Indians – freedom.
This came at a huge cost too. India achieved its independence but was also divided. People were deeply pained and aghast to see their motherland partitioned and fractured, even though free from colonial bondage. Even after decades, the fateful event was a great calamity in the national life of the country, the effects of which are still felt and observed in the country.
Freedom fighter, Hemanta Kumar Gupta (District Secretary, Khasi Hills Dist. Congress Committee 1947, and later a renowned journalist of Assam), said, ‘‘My soul was with innumerable freedom fighters, who bore the brutal torture of the British Raj, who sacrificed everything for our dear motherland, who tolerated infinite distress, only to see our motherland free from foreign bondage; but this freedom, fractured and imperfect! “Our dreams of Independence were shattered with the physical amputations of our “Mother India”, and the untold misery of her children. …….. What a cruelty of destiny!” [Ref:- ‘ajo nityah’ by Kaverri. Pg. 195]