Every year, the 15th of August marks the coming into being of the sovereign, independent nation state of India – the day in 1947, when India was at last free from the oppressive yoke of British Colonialism and subservience of the last 2 centuries. In Hindi, we officially translate Independence as Swatantrata or ‘Self-empowerment’, or colloquially as Azadi or ‘freedom’.
I like to think of it as our Freedom Day.
When we were given that greatest of Freedoms – the Freedom of Choice. To choose our way forward. To choose our way of Government. To choose the framework of values by which we would govern ourselves. To choose our path to Justice for All. To choose the mechanisms, institutions and means to achieve our national ideals. To choose our economic policies. To choose the path to equity and inclusion. To choose how to create a level playing field. To choose our leaders. And most importantly, to choose to change those leaders every now and then, if they did not achieve our national goals, or live up to our expectations.
As happened almost everywhere, newly independent states tended to adopt the laws, institutions and mechanisms of governance from their erstwhile colonial masters, and India too, chose the path of a Westminster style bicameral Parliamentary democracy, underpinned by a remarkably well thought out Constitution, with elections every five years, where people had the freedom of choice to elect their representatives.
The first few years were quite exhilarating and challenging, as the largely illiterate and rural ‘population’ learnt of their rights and freedoms and exercised their choices as ‘citizens’ of a free and sovereign nation-state. Slowly and surely, democracy took root and thrived in India, while it floundered badly through coups and military rule in several of our neighbouring countries.
However, as technology connected the world, we have seen the consolidation of power, wealth, and influence in an increasingly tiny but interconnected minority. There is talk of the ‘capture’ of national economies and evidence of ‘crony capitalism’ across the world. Oligarchs are thriving and public interest has been replaced by ‘special interest’ groups and lobbies. Social media has unleashed unprecedented connectivity, and conspiracy theories of machinations and manipulation thrive. In fact, the dreaded ‘Deep State’ was mentioned for the first time in the Indian Parliament by the Leader of the Opposition. Lately, this too is being replaced with a more contemporary phrase: Owners and Controllers of Global Financialized Capital or OCGFC, who are credited with cornering all the world’s wealth and resources, have no particular ideology or moral compass of their own, and use Think Tanks and NGOs to disguise their single-minded pursuit of wealth accumulation.
These theories are indeed manifest in a lot of cases, though not universally. There is no doubt that unbridled liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation has greatly weakened all democracies at the grassroots level. For instance, with the rapid privatisation of public assets and the subsequent decimation of the Trade Unions, the British Labour Party was reduced to a shadow of its former self and the average Brit has more or less lost his freedom of choice, as all he has to choose from, is the greater and lesser evil in any given election year.
The most ridiculous travesty of democracy is of course, visible in the US, where the choice of the people is circumscribed by who shows great and greater enthusiasm for a tiny settlement colony thousands of miles away, which uses the American tax-payers’ money to buy up politicians from both parties, who then obediently go on to sanction more aid – and so the vicious circle continues… As someone famously said : “This system was not built in a way that allows us to vote our way out of imperialism, colonialism and genocide. If it was, we wouldn’t have been given the right to vote. If the ruling class knew that voting can actually make a difference, they wouldn’t be encouraging it.” So much for Freedom of Choice.
In India too, we find that institutions are being replaced by agencies; administration with expediency; policy by special interests; and governance by politics – while national assets are being sold to the highest bidder and national culture (and identity) gets eroded by exploitative sponsorship. The power of a handful of big businesses is destroying years of effort for a more just and equitable society, and with the rising costs of education in the burgeoning private sector (at the cost of grossly under-resourced public education), the country is well on its way to losing its demographic dividend.
So this Freedom Day, let us restore a real freedom of choice for the Indian citizen. Let the diversity of precept and practice that was our hallmark be revived. Let a variety of ideologies bloom in this desert of amoral opportunism. Let it again become fashionable to speak up for the people of India.
Jai Hind!
Development and Governance 
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