At the time of independence India was facing two problems of continental proportions, the all-pervasive poverty and unemployment, and the menace of communal riots after partition. The way our leadership tried to engage with these questions then, is a lesson that is still of relevance for us when we observe our 74th Independence Day.

The Corona crisis has laid bare all the tall claims of the Modi government about the country’s infrastructure. At the time of writing these lines, India is at the top of the tally in number of positive cases every day. The economy, which is already sick and sinking after demonetization, the hasty imposition of GST and loot of public assets is in irreversible course towards recession. Amid the Corona crisis, the RBI Governor accepted that GDP is set to contract this year, without spelling the quantum. Investment and credit-rating agency ICRA has forecasted a dip of 9.5 per cent. This damage to the economy, especially to its vulnerable sectors, will put further loss of jobs and livelihoods. The mishandling of the pandemic has fuelled the already deepening unemployment crisis and according to the CMIE, unemployment rate stood at 7.43 per cent for the month of July. What is of particular importance for us here is the systematic destruction of public sector amid the lockdown.

Leaders of the newly independent India saw in the Public sector not just huge opportunity in alleviating India’s poverty and unemployment but also sought to remove the spatial disparity of development between various regions of this sub-continental state. Time-tested public sector institutions are now being dismantled including the railways and public sector banks disallowing the public to raise its voice against this because of the lockdown.

This is nothing short of undoing what was done in the last several decades, and what was the result of Indians struggling for their rights. Filling the coffers of their crony-capitalist bosses, the Modi government is hell-bent on breaking the Republic.

Simultaneously, the increasing communal fascism is hammering at the very foundation of the Indian state and the Secular Democratic Republic. Hindu India was something leaders like Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Maulana Azad and Ambedkar resisted all their lives. India was built on secular ethos and with the participation and sacrifices of all communities in the freedom struggle. There is no place for the kind of exclusionary politics that is at play today in India in the shadow of our freedom struggle. Such politics of alienation and othering is an insult to all our freedom fighters who made supreme sacrifices for this nation.

The BJP-RSS who are trying to communalize all our institutions and public life, should remember that from Bhagat Singh to Chandra Shekhar Azad to Subhash Chandra Bose, none laid their lives for a Hindu Rashtra, their commitment to Secularism and equality was absolute and the India of their dreams was a Secular Democratic Republic. Hindu Rashtra is an idea based on hierarchies, discrimination and exclusion. It not only discriminates against the minorities, but it is based on the rigidities of caste, Brahamanism and patriarchy. It is equally discriminatory for Dalits, Tribals and women. Dr. Ambedkar, the architect of our Constitution, wrote “If Hindu Raj does become a fact, it will no doubt, be the greatest calamity for this country.” He further added that “it is incompatible with democracy.” It is precisely this idea of Hindutva majoritarianism which is being imposed on us through all means possible.

On the 5th of August 2019, the central government abrogated Article 370 of the Constitution, snatched the special status of J&K granted by the Indian Constitution and bifurcated J&K into two union territories. The Kashmiris and people from other states of India are yet to see any benefit out of that, instead the Kashmiri people are in a constant lockdown for more than a year now.

On the 5th August 2020, when the whole nation is under a lockdown due to Corona, the PM led the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. The presence of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, the Prime Minister and the UP Chief Minister and Governor have given a de-facto official religion status to one particular religion. This is absolutely the violation of the Constitution which defines Indian State as Secular State and should remain neutral and above all religions. The Prime Minister and those who are sworn to protect the Constitution should have followed Constitutional morality.

Going further, the PM said in Ayodhya that the date August 5 is as important as 15th of August now. Slogans of “Kashi-Mathura Baaki Hai’ soon followed the ground-breaking ceremony on social media and elsewhere, pointing towards the nefarious design to replace the democratic, secular India into a Hindu Rashtra and replacing scientific temper with a Hindu common sense. All this show the agenda of RSS.

Equating 5th of August with 15th of August was a clear attempt at conflating the legacy of the freedom movement with Hindutva symbols. 15th of August has been opportunity to celebrate our freedom struggle and the values of equality, secularism, cooperation, tolerance and rationality which we inherited from it with sacrifices by members of all religions, castes and communities. The majoritarian Hindutva assault is trying to tamper with this inheritance and saffronise it, which should be resisted by all sections of society to protect our pluralist heritage.

Dr. Ambedkar in his concluding speech delivered on 25th November 1949 has prophetically said that “Independence is no doubt a matter of joy. But let us not forget that this independence has thrown on us great responsibilities. By gaining independence, we have lost the excuse of blaming the British for anything going wrong. If hereafter things go wrong, we will have nobody to blame except ourselves”. The warning of DR. Ambedkar is becoming true. Under the RSS-BJP combine everything is going wrong debasing the foundations of our Constitution and Democracy. People have to fight and regain the Republic before it is lost. We the People will have to pledge to save independence and the Republic and continue to secure justice - social, economic and political and secure liberty, equality and fraternity for all citizens. (IPA Service)