The true freedom of independent India

The more I think about the word independence, the more quirky it becomes for me. We usually associate the word with what happened in India, the USA and South Africa. This is because we neither have the knowledge nor the insight to see what actually happened and how the sequence of events have shaped the future of these countries.

The war of independence in the USA and the first war of independence in India were fought in the 1780s and 1857 respectively, not so far apart in terms of the years. Ground realities were not much different, it was the simmering discontent against the British that triggered both wars. But the scenarios were radically different. In the USA, it was the white settlers who wanted to shove the British out, but the situation in India was very complex. Most of the princely states were either ruled directly by the British or through Indian rulers. So it was basically Indian soldiers who were fighting the Indian mutineers.

What happened in the USA and India was collective outpouring of emotions against being bullied by people from a foreign land. It is not that foreign people hadn’t been to these countries before. India has been invaded by kings from as far as Persia and Egypt and those people have successfully integrated into the Indian culture and enriched it. In the USA, the white settlers had come from everywhere in Europe, even from Britain. What really irked the people was that, British rulers with their colonial mindset were totally inclined towards making the Empire richer and were stripping the colonies of their resources. It is this mindset that made them proudly proclaim that in the British Empire, the sun never sets.

So what happened during the wars? Indian mutineers were soundly defeated and British soldiers were driven out of the USA. What was different? Indian princely states were never united in the war, it was only played out in the certain parts of India. The white settlers in the USA played it smart, they stood together and used the help of the French forces to drive the British colonists out. Both the results proved two things: united we stand, divided we fall and a chain is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain. The people of USA figured this out, Indians never did.

What happened after the war in the USA and after India eventually gained independence in 1947 was quite similar. The popular enemy was gone and whereas what was left in the USA was a big population of white immigrants with diverse cultures, in India, it was all those princely states with totally different cultures. Both countries united the people under the umbrella of democracy and bound them together with constitutions, but did the cultures and mind sets integrate? No. The transition to railroads, steam engines and telegraph lines from guns, horses and cowboys took another 100 years in the USA. It was the people who came together, saw the vision of their leaders and started the growth process in the society, thereby creating value for the concept of democracy. The way the closed door policy adopted by the government after the Great Depression of 1929 catapulted them to the world centre stage is the biggest testimony of the maturity of the people and how they focused on education, innovation and freedom of thought.

India had this clear example before them and a model that would have worked if it would have been adopted by fine tuning for the Indian society. The rot started when India was carved up by the British before leaving, aided by leaders hungry for power. There wasn’t any blueprint of taking a united India forward. There was no real understanding or assessment of what we need and how we can be united to achieve common goals. In fact, there were no true goals at all. When I look back, I realize we did really nothing till 1991. When the Indian market was opened to the world, there was the mad rush to do catching up, without comprehending what we can imbibe and adapt to and what we cannot.

So what independence did we achieve? India was only united geographically, people were not. We have always had diversity, but no unity. Everything that defines the age old Indian culture still exists in the society. The booming cities, industrial growth, multinational companies all seem so artificial. The popular uprising that has rocked India in the past couple of weeks is actually a release of pent up emotions of several decades. What we need now is to collectively break away from our traditions and build a new society. We need not ape any other culture, we just need an indigenous one that can evolve and move along with the rest of the world. What we need is intellectual awakening that will free our minds and we will need another freedom struggle for that. This time it will be with ourselves, the battles will be fought inside our heads and within our families. But are we ready for it? As they say, only mind sets can be changed and not set minds.