Azadi.. a reality or a myth?

Our social media sites are flooded with these words today. People are posting pictures of Indian flag, patriotic songs, beautiful poetry, united India and what not. It feels that we Indians are the happiest and we are proud of our country, filled with love, respect and brotherhood amongst all citizens. There are some songs which literally give us goosebumps and when we listen our National Anthem being played across various parts of the world. 

But how often do we observe such things apart from 26th January and 15th August. We all must have seen today, the picture of people of various religions standing together on the occasion of Independence Day, and that picture captioned beautifully, "United India". Our National Anthem has the lines, 

Bharata-bhagya-vidhata.

Punjab-Sindh-Gujarat-Maratha 

Dravida-Utkala-Banga

Vindhya-Himachala-Yamuna-Ganga 

Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga

Born in a country, where since childhood, we are taught in our schools that that India is a united and democratic country, free from any type of discrimination based on religion, region, gender, caste, race etc. and yes it is true as well, but only if we see it from the vision of our freedom fighters like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Lala Lajpat Rai, Sarojini Naidu, Rani Laxmibai and the list is endless and this is because when they were fighting against British for a free India, they didn't bother about their birthplace, their religion, caste, as their only target was to make India an Independent Nation, because our country has the potential to lead the world, in terms of prosperity, economy, skilled workforce, technology, agriculture and what not. Even today, our brave soldiers who are fighting for us on the borders, don't ask for each other's religions before attacking the enemy.

If any of the freedom fighters were alive today, they must have been proud of one thing, and that is India and Indians are living a life that they had dreamt of, a free India where they would have the rights that we have today. But there is a small difference and that lies in the fact that we do have right to speech as mentioned in our constitution which unfortunately, many people use for criticizing other religions, political parties, beliefs, states etc. It feels pity to know that if anyone intervenes in our country and provokes on just 2 topics- religion and politics, and then we are ready to see a picture where people fight and even kill each other in extreme situations. 

The dream of our freedom fighters is still a dream. The saddest part is that there are some families of freedom fighters who are struggling really hard to make both ends meet and didn't get any kind of recognition as others got. Today, the political parties are just concerned about their vote bank and not the people. The rich are becoming richer and the income disparity is rising at a high rate. Unemployment is inversely proportional to the population, it seems. The youth is not bothered about their career but rather involved in drugs, weapons, faking status in the society, posting stupid stuff on social media just for getting more likes and followers. India has come a long way in the past 76 years but majority of the youth is heading in a wrong direction, The females though are at a much better state than were back in 1947, they get better quality education and opportunities to build their careers, but all this is at the sake of their safety. We say that women are granted equal rights as men are, but ask yourself, is a woman allowed to step out of her house late night or may be alone, even during daytime? Due to some sick minded people and orthodox portion of the society, females still have to suffer and are denied the rights equivalent to males. Unfortunately, "Equality" is only limited to books.

Before Independence, we were the slaves of the English but after Independence, we are still the slaves of the rich, the powerful and last but not the least our own mindset. We want our country to have laws and rules and lifestyle like the Western countries, we want to buy foreign branded products and feel that Indian products are not worth of showcasing our fake status symbol in the society. Our great scientists, doctors and engineers are proving themselves throughout the world today. We are breaking world records and achieving milestones, but still we are known by the negatives that we have in our country. The diaspora, residing outside India, still face criticism even after 76 years of Independence. People abroad laugh at us that we are ready to kill each other just in any religious or political argument. 

The negatives of our country are overshadowing its positives and developments and it is painful, especially when only we Indians are responsible for it. 

Every Indian should try to ask himself/ herself, are we really "Independent"?