http://dhruv.net
What does Independence truly mean to us Indians?. Did breaking ourselves free from rule of the British empire truly give us Independence?. I think this is just one facet of Independence. There are many facets of it but they are all somehow related to following three.
On August 15th, 1947 we were politically independent which means that we were left to take our own decisions, we were left to be responsible for our own actions and to suffer their consequences both good and bad. So we are to rely on our own government to lead the country in a progressive direction instead of foreigners. We need a government that we can rely on to really break us free of our external dependencies. We need a leader who can liberate our country from the evil forces like corruption.
Then there is a second aspect of Independence which is the religious independence and it certainly follows the political independence in the order, at least in case of India. The phrase religious independence may sounds like the dependence of one religion over the other. My definition of religious independence in this case is the ability of a religion to live and nourish among a diversity of religions. So the religious independence is achieved only when all these religions exists in harmony and promote the common growth of our nation. It is achieved on the day when you see no news of a good or an evil person addressed as a Hindu, a Muslim or a Christian, but just as an Indian. It is really unfortunate that we witnessed a Godhra massacre and Ram Janmabhumi and Babri Masjid issue not just long ago. I guess there will be no true independence as long as there are political parties that use religion for their campaign. So it is time for us to learn from our past mistakes and unite into the Indian religion.
The other facet is the economic Independence in other words being self sufficient. Typically no country could ever be self sufficient in these days given the amount of interrelationships between countries. But we need to strive to get ourselves out of the list of the third world countries. We need economical reforms that will enable us to achieve sustained growth in a multitude of areas, not just in Information and Technology. We need to raise our people up above the poverty levels and focus on developing new avenues for employment and encouraging people to explore self-employment opportunities.
Unfortunately achieving the complete independence is going to be far more challenging than it was getting a political independence, because we are not fighting against outsiders we are fighting with innerselves. But I believe there is hope. With each Independence Day that is passes by us, we are getting more aware of our problems and we are realizing our responsibilities. But the day when every Indian sets on a quest to explore his or her individual responsibility towards the country will be our true independence day. As we celebrate the 15th of August this year we are one more step close to that day.
होंगे कामियाब
हम होंगे कामियाब एक दिन
हो हो मन में हैं विश्वास पूरा हैं विश्वास
हम होंगे कामियाब एकदिन
- Girija Kumar Mathur
Happy Independence Day
Jai Hind.
