It was an ecstatic day when lakhs of people poured onto the streets of India breathing the fresh air of freedom after centuries of colonial rule. Despite the horrors of Partition, the people stood as one, hopeful of a bright future. As we stand together again to celebrate Independence Day, we face consequential questions about the kind of independence we have achieved. The commemoration comes days after the Bar Council of India issued and then withdrew an ill-advised directive barring all 2026-batch Nalsar University graduates from being admitted to state bar councils.
Its reason was that a section of the students had objected to the Chief Justice of India’s participation at the university’s forthcoming convocation over remarks he had allegedly made during the protests in Delhi. The BCI withdrew the directive after rightly getting an earful from the CJI himself. The episode revealed some of the very faultlines that the students are highlighting across the country.
It’s extremely worrying that the BCI deemed it fit to violate the fundamental rights to freedom expression and to equality. It’s just the latest episode marking the growing tendency to violate the Constitution. At stake are the very ideas on which the nation was founded—equality and dignity of all irrespective of caste, creed, religion, race or gender. True, the country has made enormous strides in many walks of life since 1947. Yet, we face mounting corruption, a fragmented polity and crores still in poverty, along with the age-old evils of casteism, communalism and patriarchy.
Seen this way, we are a disgrace to all those who gave their lives so that we may live free. That spirit of sacrifice and fearlessness in the service of the nation has been eclipsed by greed and lack of empathy. Observing many present-day leaders, we cannot help but remember Swami Vivekananda’s fiery words on the social responsibility of the educated: “I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them (underprivileged and poor).”
As we bask in freedom, it is time to imbibe the spirit of those who fought for it. India, an ancient civilisation that is the youngest nation today, is bursting with energy. If infused with scientific temper and a sympathetic heart, it can again be a guide to the world it once was. That’s the “heaven of freedom” we urgently need to work towards.
