Independence and Freedom”, a pair of words so synonymous in English language that when I asked my father to distinguish between the two, he laughed it off and said,”Ahh! But they both mean the same.” In fact, considering that English is a foreign tongue and our understanding of any foreign language is almost always relative to our own language, it is only logical that for most of us these words should not appear any different. For translating the pair to any of the Indian vernaculars, say Hindi takes us to the same word-‘Ajaade’.
However, beyond the linguistic aspect, the greater factor that goes into merging the meaning of these words is perhaps the context in which they are put. For often do we derive the sense of any word based on context in which they are used.
In that sense, Independence and Freedom which are frequently and at times, interchangeably used in the annals of politics are understood in their political context.
We speak of the strive for ‘Independence’ as ‘freedom struggle’, as independence is usually a constituent of freedom. But again what may be Independence may not always mean freedom for all.
For instance, the Fourth of July, which is celebrated in America as her Independence Day, is seen as burning symbol of hypocrisy, especially by the Afro-Americans, who were still toiling as slaves in the plantations. The famous black abolitionist, Fredrick Douglas went on to say: “What to an American slave is Fourth of July? … A day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is a constant victim”.
Similarly, the women of America, who were recognised as voters only later in the 1920s, may feel a hollow in the Fourth of July celebration.
Our own country, through its seventy glorious years of Independence, has indeed set a wonderful example of being democratic.
Yet there are a large number of us who feel, that despite our Independence, India is yet to free itself from the shackles of narrow sectionalism and petty religious bigotry.
We may then conclude that neither Independence and nor Freedom are absolutes, but subject to a person and his understanding of constraints. So if freedom and independence lie in the conscience, their distinction too must lie in complex webs of our mental horizon.
The child, for instance, is usually dependent on its parents. Yet it feels free. Again, an adult who is otherwise Independent may not feel quite free in his or her circumstances. So for every distinct mind, there lies a distinct version of freedom and independence and if there is anything that can be said in unanimity, it is, as Brigham Young says, “True independence and freedom can only exist in doing what’s right.”
(Shawni Bhattacharjee’s essay on the topic
‘Independence and Freedom’ has been chosen as the best write-up)
