Writefully Yours: #Politics

August 15, 2017

We Have Been Independent; Now, Let's Be Free !

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Pic Courtesy: India Today

It is that time of the year again when patriotism runs high and hypocrisy runs higher among Indians. The expression of hyper nationalism, exactly and only, twice a year, desecrates the celebrations of August 15^th or January 26^th. Social media takes this hysteria to new levels every year, when sharing misquoted, misspelled, and often untrue, quotes by famous and dead personalities and uploading photos with or of the tricolor becomes a 12 hour rage.

Such is the window of this patriotism that if you have not changed your display picture or shared a patriotic message between 7 AM and 10 PM on these days, you better be ready to be labeled nothing less than a traitor, anti-national and, especially reserved for people of a certain religion, terrorists!

There is nothing inherently wrong about celebrating national pride and wearing patriotism as a badge of honor. But to do so without introspection- a conversation even- is as hollow as the promises made by the people unfurling the tricolor at the Red Fort.

Independence, in a political context, is nothing but self governance. While irrespective of the time passed, this remains the crowning jewel in the proverbial crown of any nation; it is bound to lose its relevance if it is not put in context.

Freedom is the metrics that puts independence in context and gives it a perspective.

Freedom is – “the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action; liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another”.

We have been independent for 70 years, but are we free? Do we have freedom of thought, expression, lifestyle and protest?

On surface, all these answers would seem positive. But we need to look deeper.
(Click on the links below for reference news items)

If you do not believe in questioning your government’s actions or motives, you are not free.
If you equate being an informed and inquisitive electorate to being a roadblock in the government’s way, you are not free.
If you do not realize that greater the majority, greater should be the accountability, you are not free.
If you let your press get away by being the mouthpieces of politicians, you are not free. (Also, this)
If you let people sway you by rhetoric without proof, you are not free.
If you are not raged by the government’s attempts to edit history to suit its narrative, you are not free.
If you normalize tragedies and take “this has happened before” as an acceptable excuse, you are not free.
If you are still voting your caste or religion, you are not free.
If your first reaction to every tragedy is to see who is in power at that place, you are not free.
If you are alright with censorship of ideas and expression, you are not free.
If you condone differences in rights of citizens of your nation, based on caste, sex, religion, or sexual orientation, you are not free. (Also, this)
If you trust every piece of propaganda news thatcomes your way, via text messages or social media posts, without as much as “Googling” it, you are not free.
If you feel it is your duty to defend the people you voted for, no matter what, you are not free.

We have celebrated many Independence Days before and we would continue to do so because of the brave men and women who defend us and our borders. Our freedom is, however, our responsibility. One can only be free if there is will to be so. We are fortunate to be a part of a country that has a constitutional framework that lets us be freer every day. This is not about starting a revolution but about the desire of being more informed.

Accepting the status quo is not making us better and we must live in a dynamic state of getting informed and questioning further. The real celebration of our Independence would be making this Motherland richer by being a worthy electorate.

All you have to do is ask questions and seek answers!

Let freedom be upon you!

November 26, 2016

#26/11 - This Time I will Remember

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Image: oneindia.com

26/11 was personal for me. No, I wasn't personally struck by tragedy on that day, but it did blur the lines of whose tragedy is mine and whose is not. I had never been to Mumbai, still haven't, and didn't know CST or Leopold Cafe or the Taj Hotel. Quite embarrassingly, even at the age of 21, I was not aware of any Jewish population in India either. Yet, those images and those people seemed, known. No other terrorist act has had that impact on public life. In 8 years since 26/11, only #UriAttack probably comes close to have created such waves of public emotions. The terrorist infiltration had come to our backyard and this no longer seemed like a war, just for the army.

The reason I am focusing on the aftermath, rather than the attack itself, is because an attack does not fundamentally change the course of a nation; The reactions to the attack do!
How we react and rise or fall, determines the destiny of a country.

And that is where 26/11 feels personal.

Every year, this day brings a ripple of introspection. I always knew we would survive a terrorist attack; The nation would not lose itself to separatists; The economy wouldn't crash and people would not lose their belief in being safe. That is what being Indian entails. But I remember 26/11, for this was the day, when India evolved. We united against the terror, never to back down. The public learnt to accept that, for all the ugliness in our polity, the governments and the army still know how to protect us, the best. India could have stumbled and crumbled under the weight of vengeance but we chose to act how a Republic should, and for that, I am immensely proud.

The words of Prasoon Joshi, a remarkable poet and noted Bollywood lyricist, sum up the emotions of that fateful day with haunting beauty. These words are the reason why I feel so personally connected with 26/11.

Hope they will resonate with you too -