The Bustling Indian Democracy: A Look Back
India as a country was never supposed to be. The conditions in 1947 could easily confirm this thesis. Riots shook the subcontinent. Blood was spilled. People were mercilessly killed in the hands of their own race. It was chaos. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Madrasis, and even the North-Easterners asked for land as if someone was selling ice cream. Everyone wanted some.
But then comes our hero Sardar Patel, joining together the fragmented pieces of a very complicated jigsaw puzzle called India, Bharat, Hindustan. The thought was as romantic as Tagore’s poetry- An idea of a country where men of all cultures could reside without fear, their head held high, and the rule of the people would prevail. And defying all odds, from the dreams of Gandhi’s Non-Violence to the Bloodbath of the Partition and everything in between, rising like a Phoenix from the rubble of debris of a civilization the British left them in, India was born.
But it was too poor, hungry, and uneducated. There were too many people, too many languages, and too many types of biryani. “It will collapse!”
Dr. Ambedkar was the mind behind The Constitution: a timeless piece of document on which stood the solid foundations of this miracle democracy. The country did not collapse. India became a Sovereign, Democratic, Republic State on 26th January 1950. It has been 72 years since. The journey was rocky. It still is, and will be.
Challenges to our democracy never seem to end. The times we live in are one of the most polarizing and difficult ones in the history of the country. Comedians jailed for telling jokes, and journalists shot for telling the truth. Students and farmers on the streets to protest. Unemployment at an all time high, the Economy at a low, and the danger of a virus always ready to pounce on us. And how do we forget the eternal tension at the borders? The prospects are bleak.
But I believe in India. I, just like the other 1.4 billion people living in this land of diversity, believe, that when the time comes, when any threat to democracy becomes a reality, freedom of speech and expression will be reinstated by the citizens of the country, and people will throng the streets with a mind without fear, and the head held high, just like the India in the dreams of our ancestors.
By Aarya Raut.
