We have seen our dreams being shattered on many occasions, but still, we have emerged strong and confident from every difficult situation. We must understand the importance of Swaraj and start aggressively to pursue these dreams so that we can provide a better future to our coming generation as well. We must spread awareness to follow our conscience and not blindly believe what is said in the name of religion. We are far from reaching this dream, but we must not give up. I would like to end on one of the best quotes of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: “Dreams are not what you see in your sleep, but what does not let you sleep.”.
“At midnight, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” This “Tryst with Destiny” speech by Jawaharlal Nehru was a symbol of the dream that our freedom fighters had fulfilled. It also gave us the vision of the next dream to be followed by the people of India.
Gandhi’s vision of India was to promote domestic industrialization for the self-reliant development of our country. He was of the view that rural India is the backbone of India’s development. If India has to develop, the rural sector must also develop equally. He also wanted India to be free from all social evils like poverty, unemployment, and discrimination based on caste, color creed, and religion, and most importantly abolish untouchability against the lower castes (Dalits), whom he called ‘Harijans.’.
These philosophies reflect the social strata of the then-society of India. Even after 75 years of independence, we still find these social issues persisting in India. The preamble of our constitution specifies India as a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic, and republican country. Let us see how we have fulfilled our dream as citizens of India to make this definition true. After 100 years of freedom struggle, we have been able to make this dream come true. Even during the era of the Cold War, when the two superpowers, America and the Soviet Union, were making alliances to counter each other, we opted for non-alignment to not join any alliance to maintain our sovereignty. Although colonialism has been banned by the United Nations, the same thing as neo-colonialism is taking root in the international world.
Neocolonialism is defined as the indirect control of the policies of states by other states. Recently we have seen pressure by India and other underdeveloped countries like the US at the United Nations to introduce genetically modified (GM) seeds and liberalize the market for agricultural imports from developed countries. GM seeds privatize agriculture and thus pose a great threat to the quality of soil as well as the social status of India’s farmers. India has been constantly targeted by the US at the international forum over research in the development of seeds suited to Indian soils.
Another example of a threat to India’s sovereignty is through global terrorism. India has witnessed the 26/11 and Pathankot attacks by militants. India also faces insurgency activities from Naxals and militants in the Northeast from the Assam separatist movement demanding Bodoland. These activities lead to the loss of innocent lives and damage to government properties, which hinders the development of the country. We have to show unity against these activities to keep this dream alive. An example of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) decision against Facebook for monopolizing the internet was due to strong unanimous rejection by the people of India.
Our first Prime Minister was of the view that the government should play a key role in the planning and development of the country. Liberalization of industries happened only after 1991 when the license raj ended. Recently we saw the flow of money in India through foreign direct investment. If we look closely, we have not opened 100% FDI in maximum sectors of India. Privatization of the market undoubtedly provides the best competition in society with quality products. But if we adopt it, the market will supply only those products that are in demand and from which they can make profits, neglecting other essential supplies.
Also, a socialist society aims to achieve equal outcomes for every citizen, provide equal opportunities in jobs, provide minimum wages, and provide necessities like food, education, health, etc. Currently, India is the country with the largest number of underprivileged people suffering from poverty, ill health, unemployment, abuse due to discrimination, lack of awareness due to poor education, etc. We as citizens of India should be active in honestly implementing the policies made by the government while actively forming organizations to curb these social issues.
India finds its unity in diversity. After the communal riots after independence, India realized that favoring any religion would harm India in the long run. But even today we find religious hatred in society. Over the years, we have seen communal riots in the form of the 1984 Sikh riots, the 2002 Godhra incident, the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, the demolition of Babri Masjid, and many more. Religious politics has taken root in Indian politics. The recent ban on eating beef and movements like ‘ghar wapsi,’ ‘love jihad,’ etc. are against the core values of secularism.
Awareness should be spread to follow conscience and not blindly believe what is said in the name of religion. We are far from reaching this dream, but we should not give up. Society should oppose the irrational deductions imposed by these religious institutions.
In this regard, we can see that democracy has taken root in Indian society. Active formation of associations, increased participation in election processes, and peaceful resolution of disputed scenarios are actively seen even in the remotest parts of the country.
The recent scenario regarding intolerance has once again fueled speculations about our democratic faith. We are constantly witnessing situations where we find fatwas issued by religion against the writing of the views of the author. People are being jailed because of posts on Facebook. Also, we see caste-based politics and religion-based politics in our country. National parties are constantly doing dirty politics, showing the ugly face of democracy.
Democracy is the power that has been gained after a long historical struggle. We should not let the ignorance of society snatch away the best gift we have received in the form of freedom. As citizens of the Republic of India, we believe in the supremacy of our constitution. Our constitution faced a challenge during the emergency of 1976. It has been amended extensively by the authority for their future interest. But soon the government saw the strong opposition of the citizens of the country and realized the power inherent in the constitution.
After so many years we have amended the constitution 105 times. Many powers vested in the authorities have been re-examined, and many new provisions of governance have been added, for example, Panchayati Raj, etc. The balanced power vested in the judiciary, executive, legislature, and independent bodies has helped the citizens to contribute to governance effectively. This sense of justice provided by the Constitution should never be forgotten. One should have faith in the effective functioning of this machinery.
We have seen our dreams being shattered on many occasions, but still, we emerged strong and confident from every difficult situation. We must understand the importance of Swaraj and start aggressively to pursue these dreams so that we can provide a better future to our coming generation as well. I would like to end on one of the best quotes of Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam: “Dreams are not what you see in your sleep but those which do not let you sleep.”.
