Independence Day Charade

59 years ago, India freed itself from the tyrant rule of the English Queen, to signal the beginning of a new era. Most of us would never know how it was to be under a foreign rule, and only learn about the atrocities from history books. Yet, we unanimously feel the pleasure and pride of this independence, being able to elect our own government and to play a critical role in law-making. This year, lately, there has been a spate of terrorism-related events that have marred the comfort levels of the community in general. There was unprecedented security measures as the PM delivered his I-day speech today, full of stern warnings to the terrorists and motivation to the citizens to face the threats bravely. He won a lot of applause for demonstrating his tenor. Yet, I am uneasy at all the politicking involved with I-day and its celebration.

I am closely following one disturbing news item that came into prominence some days ago. That about finding decomposed bodies of new-born female babies in a well behind an ex-army man’s house in Punjab. The couple have been not only illegally determining the sex of unborn children and performing abortions, but also brutally murdering the female babies 3-6 months after they are born. Where is this scenario are we talking about independence? Are we worth our independence?

When my friends and I watched a recent Hindi movie ‘Matrubhoomi’, we initially found it absurd, since it was about a village that had no ladies whatsoever! Older ones had died, infants had been drowned in buckets of milk. Soon, the men were left without any woman to marry and procreate. Amidst all this, the plight of this one girl who was secretively nurtured by her father for 18 years can be safely left to your imagination. We watched with open mouths and prickly goose bumps the events that followed. What we saw that day was probably an exaggeration of the condition in interiors of Punjab and some other northern states. Did you know, for instance, that there are on an average 798 females for every 1000 males in Punjab, sometimes as low as 500-600 in some places? Unarguably, the worst sex ratio in the world. That’s no fact we want to be proud of on this day.

India needs desparately to break away from the shackles of hollow tradition and blind misbeliefs. These benefit a select few temporarily and harm the entire country almost permanently. The dowry system, gender inequality and caste politics need to be done away with completely. Till that happens, there is no rightful pride in watching the Independence Day parade.