August 15 v. January 26

The above case must be decided in the people’s court. And, as I see it, it will end in a tie.

On August 15, we celebrate Independence Day. On January 26, we celebrate Republic Day.

On August 15 we celebrate our freedom from someone other than ourselves. Yes, it is an occasion for celebration. On January 26, we celebrate our freedom from ourselves! Yes, this too is time for celebration. The difference is stark. Yet, the case is balanced on a knife edge.

On August 15 it is the Prime Minister, the head of Indian government who holds fort (from the Red Fort). On January 26, the head of State of the Republic of India – the President – gets the attention, sitting/standing regally on a platform along, ironically, Rajpath.

Both instances grate on me. Taking August 15 first, was it the government that secured independence for the people? No. It was the people. Then, why not discard the government or at least dilute its presence on this special day? All across the nation, across hierarchy. The celebration should be multi-nucleated, and most importantly the meta-nucleus can be none other than the idea of freedom, and definitely not the government.

I will resort to quoting Martin Luther King:

Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring … And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

The point to be noted above is he did not ask for freedom to ring from the White House or Capitol Hill, the seats of governance. That is the meaning of freedom, and it flows up from the people to the government. This is what should be celebrated on August 15. Freedom should not be celebrated by listening to the head of the government setting out its policy, or worse, defending a policy that has gone wrong, and if you are a pessimist, irreparably wrong by the people. This is not celebration of freedom.

Much as I hate the supposedly patriotic songs of Manoj Kumar, being played out, even as I am penning this, in the housing society I live in, it is better than listening to Man Mohan Singh droning on and on, and taking a cue, Jayalalithaa doing an encore from Chennai. These have no connections to freedom, and ironically today, do not evoke the connection to our independence.

The case against the Republic Day celebration is very short. Power did not flow from the barrel of a gun when our republic was established. Then, why the focus on the fly-past by the air force? Why army tanks trundling down Rajpath? Perhaps because Russia celebrates it that way!

Why every float from every state is a homogenized celebration of the culture of that state? Why not about the nation’s science, its sports? Why not highlight our contribution to ITER, to the Square Kilometer Array (SKA), even if only as an associate member? Why not our “Green” initiative (if and when they come to pass!)? But, even as I suggest these, what I would truly want is abolishing the event itself. There is no logic behind Republic Day parade along the Rajpath in Delhi and along Kamarajar Salai (Beach Road) in Chennai.

Where is the Republic in our Republic Day? The Rajpath is lined with rows and rows of seats for the VVV…IPs. Are these the only public? When Connaught Place has been changed to Rajiv Chowk, at least change the name Rajpath to something like Republic Way.

Did you know that the word “Republic” comes from res publica?  That is, the idea that the affairs of the state are that of the public. Even admitting that ours is a representative democracy, at least on this day, the public should be allowed independent expression, independent of the state.

So, were I decide to judge the case, I would ignore all the celebrations and enjoy the holiday in bed. This way, I will be insulting the idea of freedom and republic the least.

I am free from all obligations and I am my own ruler – my wife cannot bid me to do anything!

Raghuram Ekambaram