Is it possible to celebrate August 15 without reflecting on August 5?

Independence Day on August 15 this year is a significant milestone in the nation’s history. But since the year 2019, another date in August has cast its shadow on August 15. It is now impossible to celebrate the Independence Day without a pause for reflection on August 5, 2019.

That is the day in 2019 when the Indian government triumphantly ‘revoked’ Article 370 and truncated the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories. New Delhi took advantage of the fact that the J&K Assembly was in suspended animation. No consultations were held and the Assembly was dissolved.

It is also worth reminding ourselves that all this was achieved through subterfuge. The Amarnath Yatra was abruptly suspended on the pretext of an imminent terror strike. Large number of security forces were rushed to secure the state and political representatives of the state were placed under ‘unwritten’ house arrests.

The plans would have been put in place long before August 5, 2019. Article 370 was after all always in the crosshair of the RSS and the BJP. It was however difficult to believe that even a BJP government would carry it out. A large section of Indians believed that Article 370 of the Constitution was irrevocable. But they were proved to be wrong.

All talks of Insaniyat, Kashmiriyat, Jamhooriyat were forgotten. Promises India made in 1947 to Muslim-majority Kashmir were dishonoured, ironically by those who invoke Lord Ram and consider promises sacrosanct.

They made a mockery of the foundation of ‘Ram Rajya’ and ‘Raghukul Reeti’ that promises once given must be honoured even at the cost of one’s life (Praan jaaye par vachan na jaaye). Exactly a year later the foundation of the Ram Temple was laid even as the foundation of secularism shook.

Such breaches have however become commonplace. ‘How free are we’ is no longer a rhetorical question. Are we really free? While freedom cannot be measured, India has steadily slipped in the global ranking of human freedom index since 2014, when India became free according to an actor patronised by the present dispensation.

Democracy has been weaponised to legitimise the rulers’ whims and power lust. Agencies like the ED, CBI, and CID are being used against not just political rivals but also against social activists demanding justice and lending voice to the voiceless. Writers, novelists, artists and theatre activists too are not spared.

The felicitation of an internationally acclaimed Indian writer now gets cancelled merely because sentiments of someone in the ruling party’s students’ wing are allegedly hurt or because the students’ wing does not approve of the ideas articulated in her writing.

Self-appointed vigilante groups have cropped up to physically obstruct people offering Namaz in public parks and spaces and girl students wearing the hijab—unmindful of the encroachment of public spaces by various majoritarian events and celebrations.

Freedom is now subjective. It is subject to your faith, customs and habit. Warning non-vegetarians to better keep away from non-vegetarian food during the month of ‘Shravan’ is just one such example. While in other free democracies this would be treated as an imposition, here this has official sanction.

When one sees such signs of submission everywhere, how does one celebrate freedom? The government has relaxed the Flag Code and ordered that every house must display the national flag on the eve of Independence Day.

Since polyester flags have been allowed for the first time, many of the flags made of polyester imported from China will be fluttering on the Independence Day this year.

One is assured that every house would be watched. Every household will be expected to wear patriotism on its sleeves and by unfurling the national flag certify themselves to be nationalists and patriots. It is not too difficult to imagine how people who fail to abide by the dictat would be dealt with.

Whatever be the circumstances, come disease, death or financial crisis, everybody must celebrate the Independence Day. The minorities especially will have to walk the extra mile to prove their patriotism, or else...

This year we need to unfurl the national flag with the resolve to uphold our freedom and prove that August 5, 2019 was a historical aberration. We perhaps should recall the sacrifices of those who resisted the colonial administration with the tricolour in their hand and faced bullets. We can unfurl the national flag in support of our diversity and democracy and in opposition to repression of freedom. Let this be a true celebration of ‘Azadi’.

(The writer is a social activist and former Member of Parliament. Translated from Hindi and edited for context)

(This article was first published in National Herald on Sunday.)