Freedom at Midnight

Is it an occasion to celebrate the Golden Jubilee, the 50th year of Freedom without providing the basic needs like water, power and food to the millions of people in the country? It is not a matter of jubilation but a matter for introspection for what could not be done for well over half a century.

Had it not been for the post-haste decision of the leaders in a hurry to get independence we would not have accepted the splitting of the country into two that too under darkness. We are at a loss to know why this important deal was struck with England. Even today we are facing border troubles including the Kashmir problem, almost an unsolvable problem.

Gandhiji who was not even a Congress member asked the newly formed Government of which Nehru was Prime Minister to dissolve the Congress. The people of this country have learnt to do satyagrahas, dharnas and bandhs even on some pretext or the other and so much so millions of man-hours are wasted in this poor country.

The cancer of corruption is eating into the vitals of our country and it is becoming weaker and weaker day by day. Nehru used to say that the corrupt person should be hanged on the nearest lamp-post. Even though our’s is the biggest democratic country, for well over four decades it has become one person’s rule i.e. hereditary Rule. Indira Gandhi brushed aside corruption as a global phenomenon.

The country is ruled in such a way that an honest and real patriot like Lal Bahadur Shastry used to say that he was a glorified clerk when he was a Cabinet Minister. But for Feroz Gandhi the sensational Mundhra affair would not have seen the light of day.

For well over a quarter of a century the country has been facing scams and financial frauds from Nagarwala to Hawala. After 50 years of independence 40% of us, are still illiterate, Yet ours is the biggest democracy in the world and every country is watching how we manage so many languages, caste and religions which are peculiar to our country. Rowdyism and smuggling are the order of the day. Probably 50% of the M.P.’s and M.L.A.’s are elected from this class of society. Politics has been criminalised.

Ever since the death of Nehru the country has been demoralised and democracy is existing, on slogans. Right from Dadabhai Noaroji to Gandhiji leaders sacrificed their lives for getting freedom to our country. As all India Congress President D. Sanjeevaiah once said, the rich are becoming richer and the poor are becoming poorer in our country. Our country is neither developed under developed, but “developing” and it is midway like Trishank Swarga (Creation of heaven by Vishwamithra).

Poverty, illiteracy and unemployment are the problems facing the country even today. None of these problems was tackled to the satisfaction of the people. The major problem facing the country now is lack of political stability. The Government should cut their abnormal expenditure and eradicate corruption. Black money is doing havoc and running parallel economy.

The country is in the quagmire of huge debt running into lakhs of crores and every year we are borrowing perhaps to pay interest on the existing loans. The Government that least governs is the best Government. Due to too much of their interference in every field of activity, the common people are the worst sufferers.

The basic need for human survival is water, that has not been provided yet and the scarcity still persists in cities, towns and villages. There are villagers who walk 20 km or so to get drinking water. We are painfully reminded of Winston Churchill’s speech in the House Commons in 1947 on the eve of getting freedom to our country. “Liberty is man’s birth right. However to give the reins of Government to the Congress at this juncture is to hand over the destiny of the hungry millions into the hands of rogues and free booters. Not a bottle of water or a loaf of bread shall escape taxation. Only air, that too polluted will be free and the blood of those hungry millions will be on the head of Mr. Atlee. India will be lost in political squabbles. It will take a thousand years for them to enter the periphery of politics”

Our country is no longer the land of Buddha and Sankara. The hoary past, traditions, customs and our heritage are the links established through out the ages though our ethics and morals have been eroded and shattered to irreparable extent.

Last but not least, to put in the words of the late lamented journalist G.K Reddy “A Vast and turbulent society like ‘India in a state of constant flux, burdened with a heavy log of baffling problems, often finds itself caught up inextricably at the cross roads of history, as it makes a faltering attempt to catch up with the lost opportunities and leap forward into the next century”.

We are engulfed in hydra-headed problems. There is a need for social awakening, political enlightenment and economic growth to keep pace with the changing times. Let us look forward to a stable Government, speedy development, and socio-economic progress in our rich country inhabited by poor people.