India celebrates its
Independence Day on 15th August every year. On this day its peoples
remember the long and gallant struggle for independence and pay homage to the
martyrs who dedicated their life fighting for independence. Let it be Mahatma
Gandhi or whether it be Shaheed Bhagat Singh; heroes ranging from a variety of
backgrounds and professing different ideologies are remembered and reminisced
for their great and unselfish contributions to a noble cause: that of gaining
independence for India. But one question we must consider at this point- Are we
really free? Is India really independent? Or the sacrifices of the
freedom-fighters have been in vain.
Different people would
choose different ways to answer this particular question. One might answer this
question in positive saying that yes, India is free and independent. Another
person may not agree. It’s a matter of debate that India has got true freedom
or not but one thing one must agree upon is that India is a politically
sovereign nation. But political independence isn’t everything, is it. Social,
economic and cultural freedom and independence are much important too. Let me
just tell you about my personal opinions on this issue.
First of all I would
point out that freedom and independence, though often used synonymously, are in
fact two different things. Independence, as defined by Wikipedia is “a condition of a nation, country,
or state in which its residents and population, or some portion
thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over the territory.” So we come
to know that independence is when a country/nation is somewhat self-sufficient
and is sovereign. On the other hand freedom is really a very complex and much
more philosophical concept than independence. Freedom and Liberty are two
closely related thoughts though some differences exist between the two. Freedom
and Liberty have been described by various thinkers and philosophers in numerous
manners and mean differently in diverse contexts. A common definition of liberty,
as given by Wikipedia, is “the ability of individuals to have agency (control over
their own actions)” So liberty is something like breaking free
of unnecessary bondages; it is a state of being free of subjugation; a
condition where everyone can walk with dignity and everyone has got equal
rights. Freedom, liberty and independence are three closely-knitted notions yet
there exists difference between them. Also, when we refer to freedom or liberty
we mostly mean it implying on individuals and society rather than nations.
Independence is a term which we use for individuals and societies as well as society.
We many a times speak of a society as free, then we mostly mean how much
freedom that society offers to its constituent individual members.
India as a
nation is independent, as it is sovereign, exercises its own government in its
territory and so on. There can be no disagreement on this as I have stated
earlier. But India as a free society hasn’t got good records to boast of. Also
individual independence often goes unaddressed in India. Still as a society,
India’s individual lacks many basic freedoms. The most notable of these
freedoms are social and mental freedom. The type of independence that the
Indian individual lacks is economic. Poverty is perhaps the bitterest reflection
of economic dependence in our society. Malnutrition, disease, illiteracy, corruption
and homelessness are the results that follow and further intensify social and
mental slavery among people. Violence against women, crime, pressure from
family to marry a certain person or to follow a certain profession and other
such common happenings exemplify the lack of social freedom in our society.
But
perhaps the most dangerous and hazardous type of slavery that lingers us is
mental slavery. This type of slavery comprises of superstition, irrationalism
and the inability to think. It means blindly following anything like a flock of
sheep and not thinking of where it would lead to. It includes lack of curiosity
and it consists of ignorance. Unfortunately many Indians, ranging from old people
to the young youth has fallen for this type of slavery. If we don’t break free
of the shackles of mental slavery we might eventually succumb to something like
Nazi Germany or Francoist Spain: strong outside, but weak internally; a nation
which is independent but its people aren’t free. One thing we need to do is to
step out of darkness to light. It hurts at first but you soon get used to it
and the world becomes brighter.
