Are we really INDEPENDENT ?

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   "At the stroke of midnight, when the whole world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom." These words of the first Prime Minister of India - Jawaharlal Nehru have been engraved in our history. It's been 70 long years when the then PM hoisted the Indian tricolour at the Red Fort and declared India to be free, liberal, independent. But a question arises to me that are we really living in a free and independent India?
  India is the biggest democracy in the world. According to our constitution several rights have been bestowed upon us. One such right is Right to Speech. We have the right to freely express our opinions whether good or bad and it can be in any form - films, books, paintings etc. The recent examples that come to light are the controversies caused by the movie 'Indu Sarkar' and the documentry 'The Argumentative Indian' based on the life of the Nobel laurette Amartya Sen. The CBFC ordered words like 'cow', 'Gujarat', 'RSS', 'PM' to be omitted. Salman Rushdie's 'Satanic Verses' was banned in India. Even India's most prominent painter M.F.Hussain was also a victim when he was targeted by the Hindu groups for supposedly insulting their faiths. You simply can't constrain free speech.
   It is a country where the decisions taken by the government (GST) are not even thoroughly explained to the general public. It is a country where the Sport personalities and film stars are considered Gods and even their criminal offences are acceptable where will the common man go to seek justice? It is a country where animal sacrifice is prevalent but 'cow' is considered god. It is a country where Sadhus and Babas are holding office and turning enterprenurs and industrialists, looting people. It is a country where people walk and travel miles to worship their Gods, blindly following superstitions. It is a country where women are looked down upon and treated as second class citizens and the third strata of society is completely neglected.It is a country where there is communal violence over minor issues. It is a country where top officials and personalities are caught red handed in scams and scandals. Poverty, Unemployment, illiteracy, malnutrition runs through the veins of the country. The divide is huge and is getting larger. The rich are becoming richer and the poor, poorer.
   But here all points considered we must stand together today, brothers and sisters of this diverse nation, our heads held high and salute the national flag when it unfurls and sing "Jana Gana Mana" our national anthem together. A feel proud to be a part of this "Incredible India."

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