Celebration Of Independence
- 11-Sep-2018
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Anadi Naik
The fifteenth of August is a national holiday and in order to celebrate this day schools, colleges and government offices remain closed. There are parades and celebrations in many places. Civic organizations do flag hoisting. The tri-color flag of the country flies high. All over India ministers and other high officials receive guards of honor. As customary, they make speeches. In many ways the day becomes a day for rest and relaxation for many who hold a job in the government or a large company. For millions of others the fifteenth August is no different than the 14th or the 16th of August. Obsessed with the problems they face daily this hapless multitude of people continue doing their own things. They see throngs of people gathering at different places and the merriment around them. Yet, given the condition they are in, all of this about August 15 becomes quite foreign to them. “This is not for me. This is for big shots” – they think and one by one go on their own way.
For every one – rich and poor, employed and jobless, young and old, educated and illiterate, men and women – Independent India is a fact of life. There are many who could still tell us that in their lifetime, not long ago, India was a colony and it was not free.
It took years of efforts by countless people throughout the country to bring freedom. While celebrating this auspicious day, we need to remember the sacrifice that was required for this. For over two hundred years geographic India remained under the control of an alien power. But the Indian spirit and the Indian way of life were not affected much. Certain superficial things from outside such as paying taxes or getting a job in the government made some differences. Yet, at the core India remained India and the people in general continued to do things just the way they had been doing for generations. In spite of the British presence in India literature in different languages flourished. Saints and reformers like Ramakrishna and Dayananda brought a new philosophy into public life. The importance of places like Puri, Varanasi, Rameswaram or Pandharpur never diminished a bit in the Indian mind. The British Raj therefore could not touch the core of Indian values. However, it was able to do a lot of damage outwardly.
Like all colonial powers the British wanted to create a trusted group of servants who could help the Raj from within this ancient society. They had to come from the upper crust. So they created a land owning class. Following their own system the British gave ownership of land to individuals so that they can easily collect taxes. Those who received land, the most important means of production, were too happy to do the biddings of their benefactors. By introducing their own system of education they wanted to create Englishmen in India with brown bodies. It worked very well. These newly minted “babus” as officers and administrators became the new ruling class whose purpose of existence seemed to be making the vast majority of the people perpetually fearful. At the height of the Raj the entire population was gripped with fear – fear of the landlord, fear of the caste system imposed through a religious dogma, fear of the gods and goddesses. Above all else loomed the fear of the almighty British Empire in which the sun never set. Freedom from fear was needed. Yet, the concept of “freedom” was not foreign to the Indian mind.
“Saa Vidya ya Bimuktayeh”- said the scripture. After getting their education, members of the educated elite eventually asked for “freedom”. At the beginning the demand was mild, almost imploring. Slowly the demand got traction. A larger number of educated people joined in. They wanted freedom from the Raj. They gained strength from their national history and from their number.
The British were a privileged lot in India. And India was a jewel in the British Crown. The British played all kind of tricks to hold on to their empire in India. But the discontent against them continued to grow. At the same time the entire Europe had to face two catastrophic wars and both times the United Kingdom was involved. By the end of the Second World War Britain had neither strength nor means to prevail in India.
In order to subjugate the country, in the past, the British had taken advantage of the disunity and mutual jealousy among its ruling class as well as the apathy among the masses. They had introduced fear. Now, all of the segments worked together. Their leaders, steeped in British education had made them unafraid. Ordinary folks were raising Indian tri-color on the roofs of the Government buildings, military cantonments and police barracks. Doing those things was not easy. In many places firing took place. In my own village area four individuals became martyrs when British soldiers opened fire on a gathering of unarmed villagers. Those who refused to pay taxes had their homes and properties auctioned off. Hundreds and hundreds were put in jail. They were beaten and treated like dogs. Yet the country did not give up and the people did not give in. The end result was the freedom not only of India but of the entire colonial world. It was the beginning of the end of colonialism.
When the British arrived in India it was one of the richest countries in the world. When they left, it was one of the poorest. Today, India is in a different place from where it was in 1947. It still has many unresolved issues to tackle at home and abroad. However, each of these issues is rooted in the service of the common man. While celebrating this grand occasion none of us should forget to ask ourselves the question: How is the common man going to benefit from what I am doing?
Jai Hind.
