What India means to me
By Kuldip Dhiman

WHENEVER an issue bothered the Greeks, they would gather at a town square or a market-place and discuss the matter. And no matter what the rulers or great thinkers believed, the citizens had the courage to disagree with them. The Greeks believed that "Plato is a friend, but truth is a greater friend". Five decades after Independence, most of us find ourselves contemplating similar issues and concerns: What does it mean to be an Indian, a free citizen, a householder? What have we gained by freedom? Where are we heading?

According to TV personality and costume designer of such acclaimed films as The Bandit Queen, Dolly Ahluwalia,"I have no doubt about our success as a nation, as a democracy. Take women for example, women of my mother’s generation hardly had any identity or social participation, but now women are there in every field, and they are often at the top. Considering the fact that we have been free only for five decades, this is no mean achievement.

Then let’s take the media. We have a free Press that has done a great job of mirroring the problems of people. Look at the tremendous role the media played during the Kargil conflict. Because every citizen of India was aware of what is happening, the entire nation stood up as one man in support of our jawans. What more proof do you need to know that democracy is live and kicking in India? I am really proud of my country, and the freedom that it offers".

Punjabi writer Mohan Bhandari, who tries to highlight the predicament of the deprived classes in his stories, seems to have a difference of opinion. "Half a century is a long period", he says, sinking into his chair, "but freedom has made no difference to the common man. We have failed to reach the poor. The situation could be improved if right-thinking persons come forward. No doubt some effort has been made, but most of our programmes are limited to cities and towns alone. We must now try to uplift the poor."

Theatre personality and activist G.S. Chani, who stages street plays against heavy odds to take his message to the masses, was more critical of the situation.

"What sort of freedom are you talking about, and what sort of democracy? A politician swallows Rs 4 crore and he goes scot-free, paintings of artists are burnt, a highly respected person like Dilip Kumar is harassed, and the culprits roam about freely. Is it a democracy, or is it a rule of hooligans and goons? We are ruled by fear and intimidation, and if this is freedom, if this is the concept of a nation, then repeating the words of the great poet Pash, I would like to have my name struck off from such a system." Very strong words there by Chani, who is no less a patriot than anyone of us.

Harbhajan Singh Cheema, a former soldier of the Indian National Army, has been busy raising funds for the Kargil martyrs with his colleagues of the Chandigarh Freedom Fighters’ Association. "I think the British rule was better. During their rule", says Cheema in a voice choked with emotion, "you could deck a woman with gold ornaments and she could travel alone and no one would touch her but now even I am afraid to go out after dark. Now there is no concept of law and order. How many innocent people were killed during the Delhi riots? Such massacres never happened during the British rule."

Didn’t anything happen at the Jallianwala Bagh in 1919? It was on Baisakhi, and it happened in Amritsar.

"Well.... that’s a different story....".

Another seasoned freedom fighter, S.R. Sharma, is visibly upset by such words. "I would like to disagree with my friend here. The sacrifices that our people made for the freedom struggle have not gone in vain. No doubt we have had problems, we have made mistakes, but what message is my friend giving by saying that enslavement is preferable to freedom? Have you forgotten that the British used to treat us as dogs? You could not walk on the Mall if you were not properly dressed. You had no rights, no dignity. I would prefer our own incompetent government to any efficient government by foreigners."

In the other corner of the city, Nek Chand, the creator of the Rock Garden, is quietly getting on with his work. He was a young boy when he had to leave his home in Pakistan after Partition. He is surprised by the claim that some people preferred the British rule to our own.

" As far as I am concerned, I would rather be miserable in free India, than be prosperous and wealthy as a slave in an India under outsiders. I am not saying our democracy is a perfect one, but then who is perfect in the world? We used to hear of food shortages before Inde-pen-dence, but now have you ever seen anyone die of hunger? Isn’t that itself a good enough reason to be proud of? There are opportunities here for anyone who has the desire to work hard. Only a useless person might die of hunger. If you don’t have a job, and if the worst comes to the worst, you can always make a small shack in some corner and set up shop."

On the Panjab University campus, stroking his unkempt hair Satya P. Gautam, president of the Panjab University Teachers’ Association, observes." The last five decades are a tale of the middle classes trying to appropriate national wealth, opportunities and resources in the name of welfare of the masses. Education has been the worst victim of this attitude. If education is not taken seriously on the national agenda, the day is not far when the doors of the institutions of higher education will be closed even for the middle class. It is a shame that university teachers are forced to hold a nation-wide strike to get their overdue revised pay scales. If we want India to progress, we must realise that winning the war on the educational front is far more important than winning any other war."

In another corner is Divya, a student, who is equally unhappy about the present situation, "Our teachers are not concerned about imparting education to us, they are more interested in their pay scales and other issues. They are on strike every year, and they are at it again. It is August already; when will the exams be held, and when will we apply? The last date of admission in most colleges has already passed. Let them fight with the government, why are they spoiling our future in the bargain?"

On the other hand, Pritam Singh Gill, Chairperson, Economics Field, Oxford Brookes University, says, "Living abroad has sharpened some of my perceptions about India, rather than changing them. The negative perceptions first: What stands out very clearly is that India has a very unequal society. The vulgar wealth of the rich and the degrading poverty of the poor is the most repulsive feature of India. Equally repulsive is the social and cultural oppression of the lower castes by the upper castes. On the plus side, India stands out as a promising example of the success of democratic institutions. Then we have a reasonably sound freedom of the Press and a fairly high quality of political and intellectual debate."

Saurabh Sood, a student, is of the view: "India has no doubt made great progress in science and technology, but most of the gains have been negated because of our corrupt leaders." Young Saurabh’s views are supported by veteran freedom fighter O.P. Vij, president of the Chandigarh Freedom Fighters’ Association. "Unfortunately, we have not produced a single good leader in the past 50 years; we have produced only politicians. The children who were born after 1947, don’t even know the meaning of freedom. They don’t know their history or about the horrors of Partition."

Siddharth Sharma is a pragmatic 12-year-old schoolboy. He says,"Our government should encourage farmers to grow more crops. These crops should then be exported, and with the money that we earn from exports, we should buy big guns and planes and missiles, otherwise anyone will conquer us again."

Ritu Arora, a young educated housewife, says, "I don’t know about others but I fulfil my responsibilities. We pay taxes, and obey the laws, and I don’t take nonsense from anybody. I don’t know why people are afraid to speak, why they take nonsense? "

Meena Dhanda, who teaches philosophy at Wolverhampton University, the United Kingdom, says, "I have always been struck by India’s cultural diversity to the extent that I am inclined to say that ‘India is not one’, and now, far away from home, I appreciate this diversity even more. It is good that we do not have an equivalent of the Church of England. At the same time I am alarmed by the rate at which the middle class is being rapidly transformed into a uniform mass of satellite-tele-addicts".

In Chandigarh, Oshima Reikhy of the Nari Mukti Andolan, opines, "The future of women is linked with the future of humanity itself since they constitute 50 per cent of the population. Today women are a lot more sure about their role in society, about their identity. But we shouldn’t take women’s struggle as a struggle against men, it is a struggle against the ills of society."

Karen Haydock, who holds a doctorate in bio-physics from the State University of New York, Buffalo, has been writing and illustrating children’s books in India. Says she, "Although India has been independent for only 50 years as compared with USA that has been independent for over 400 years, I think the USA has not managed to be more democratic than India. In fact, people in India have more avenues for democratic participation in the electoral system, a wider and more meaningful range of choice is available to voters here than in the USA. But the true meaning of democracy, you know, is realised when people govern themselves; this doesn’t seem to be happening in India because the majority of the people are too busy in their struggle for survival."

Diwan Manna, a committed artist who has always been involved with social issues, on the other hand, is disturbed by the fact that the freedom of expression, a fundamental principle of democracy, is being curbed by some anti-social elements. "Unfortunately some people think freedom means the freedom to do anything without bothering about the feelings of others. Intolerance restricts intellectual growth, it restricts new ideas, it inhibits free expression. Take the case of film Fire, there was nothing derogatory or damaging to anybody and yet it suffered the wrath of narrow-minded chauvinists. Such people are actually looking for a cause to further their own narrow political ends. Most of them are not competent enough to value the merits of a work of art. I can’t think of any artist who has deliberately tried to hurt the sentiments of a particular religious or social group. I would like to address the intolerant bigots with the words of Philip Messenger: Pray you use your freedom,/And, so far as you please, allow me mine".

And finally, Poonam Guleria, whose husband Capt Deepak Guleria made the ultimate sacrifice for the country in the recent Kargil conflict,sums it up through her own experience. " I never felt alone. Everyone was with me in the hour of grief. Other women like me who have lost a dear one, should not go on pitying themselves, or crying. Since my husband has given his life for the country, do you think I will be doing a honourable thing by shedding tears all the time? No, the best thing I could do in his memory is lead a positive life and raise my son as a good, responsible citizen like his father".

It is,indeed, reassuring to know that, in spite of all the odds, in spite of all the pessimism, democracy is in good health. There are people like Chani, and Ritu Arora who are actively doing something about things they disapprove of , while there are others who carry on without getting involved. Both attitudes are right; both are democratic. As Mark Twain put it: "In our country we have those three unspeakable precious things; freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practise either."