By P. A. Chacko SJ

Dumka, Aug 14, 2020: Our Indian nation at 73 is still independent as far as the Independence Day official celebrations are concerned. The ramparts of Lal Qila, flag hoisting, parades, flower shows, entertainments including speeches galore, will attempt to create a window-dressed atmosphere of I am OK, you are OK aura.

Moving on to ground realities, we are in the grip of the Covid pandemic which threatens to claim many more lives. Calamities like the flood ravage have wiped off thousands of lives.

Joblessness and unemployment, aggravated by the lockdown and downing the shutters of even small scale business, have created a dismal picture. The economy’s spiralling down into the drain, with the consequent price rise and poverty escalation, has forced even common people to become critical of those in power.

When these and many other serious issues stare us in the face, we cannot afford to remain complacent or unaware of naked realities.

The recent reported examples of India demonstrating its noble secular character have been heartening. Without thinking of caste, creed or religion, people reached out to the flood-affected or the victims of the plane disaster in Kerala.

The four Muslim youngsters in Bangalore, who almost carried the mother of an accused person to safety when others of their confraternity attacked g and burnt her house, showed that there is sanity still left in our land.

That Hindu family in Delhi, protecting their Muslim neighbours even as merchants of death sent their goons to handpick and murder, burn and hack to death in cold blood the so-called enemies of the nation gave out the message that human fellowship stands above nationalist or religious fundamentalism.

To feel the freshness of India’s freedom once again, we need to harness the energy of all men and women of good will and noble values towards a constructive path. That will mean that we shall positively call for upholding the great values enshrined in our sacred Constitution. We shall not allow them to be sullied or derecognised by sinister political forces.

We shall demonstrate by word and deed that religious constructs, man-made or inspiration-provoked, are relevant only as long as they become a cementing force between men and women, between people of different communities, irrespective of color, caste or creed! A religion that thrives on violence, hatred and terror techniques is not worth its name.

Inspiration from ancient wisdom literature or from the lives of men and women who stood against incorrupt ways of administration is to be emulated and propagated.

Those who are facing incarceration, because they exercised their constitutionally given freedom of expression or they dared to bare the truth and nail the lie, need our honest salute.

Our young men and women will need to be equipped with aspirational goals for a free and fearless India. That means, the youth force has to be harnessed into constructive ways of thinking and acting instead of diverting their energy into lynching and terrorizing people. Let us not allow our vibrant youth force to become a plaything in the hands of agenda-based politicians or fanatical leaders.

Fear stalks our land. Even our political heads lie uneasy. That the Prime Minister’s security expenses go into a crore plus per day only shows what fright and insecurity envelop the head of the government. India Today joined many other national dailies in telling us that Rs.1.62 crore a day, (584 crore a year), is the cost of P. M. Modi’s SPG security cover.

If this is the state of affairs, then who can be spared? Possibly, religious fanaticism, skewed nationalist fervour, political opportunism, corrupt leaders, a backboneless political opposition and such other factors have spawned merchants of terror and dispensers of instant judgement.

Is this the type of an independent India we look for? Surely not!

We need to say “Yes” to many things and “No” to many others. Yes to honest and incorrupt political leadership, no to fanatical forces that drive our politicians to drag the nation to death and disaster. Yes to the farmer and the work force that keep the nation alive and no to the looters of our wealth deposited in banks.

We need to say yes to those who can analyse and critically observe the real state of affairs of the nation and say no to those who silence and terrorize them.

We need to yes to the upholders of our sacred constitution and no to the grave diggers who want to bury our noble Constitution in order to erect on that grave their monuments of mockery.

Let the nation be equipped with hopes for a happy future when we shall hold our hands in fraternity and heads high to say ‘WE ARE FREE!’

(Father P A Chacko is a Jesuit missionary who has been working among indigenous people in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand for more than half a century.)