India is sovereign and democratic, but Gaurav at Vantage Point notes that this does not mean it is a truly free country.:
What does "freedom" mean in India? I am afraid most people think of
freedom as "sovereignty". For most Indians, we became free on 15th
August 1947, because the state apparatus was run by our own people from
that day onwards, as opposed to some foreigners. However, we have never
really had a "freedom movement". For us, freedom meant the freedom to
sing Vande Mataram, instead of God Save the King. Freedom meant being
able to fly a tricolour instead of a union jack.All these
things are expressions of sovereignty and NOT freedom. In India, we
take our sovereignty very very seriously, because it is something we
struggled for, and like anything hard-earned, we value it. But we never
really fought hard for our freedom. There has been no satyagraha in
front of the Sena Chief’s house demanding that he not infringe on our
right to celebrate Valentine’s Day. There has been no protest rally
against banning of books, though there have been several rallies
demanding bans. There hasn’t been widespread protest against some
Draconian laws, like the ones which make holding hands on marine drive
an offence.
(via India Uncut)
June 5th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Both of those blogs don’t run a comments section, so here’s my 2 cents.
We can’t compare what freedom means to Americans to what it means to Indians, even though both fought for their freedom, but the former did it more than 200 years ago and the latter a lil over 60 years. Freedom has come to be individual freedom in the case of America, however in India its mainly described as being free from any sort imperalistic designs, not really freedom at the individual level but at at a collective level as a nation, so to say.
We indians still carry a lot of baggage, 1/4 of us our below the poverty line, we are not yet a rich nation, we have hangups such as the caste system etc etc in our society. We have a come a long way in empowering individual freedom but not at the same level as Americans, we still have a long way to go. The writer makes an excellent point about the constitution, which is a forever changing document showing us the path to follow and developing itself along the way too. As we grow, prosper and let go of the baggage that holds us back, we will be empowering more and more ppl along the way.