Celebrating a Different Kind of Independence
Yesterday, we, the people of India, are celebrating our 80th Independence Day. But this Independence Day feels different.
It is not because of what we are doing today or what we will do tomorrow. It is because of what has been happening across India over the last three months.
For the first time in 12 years, a minister had to resign following intense public pressure. And it is not just about one minister. In Jharkhand, an entire PSC had to resign amid ongoing protests led by Gen Z. Nor is this limited to Gen Z. Members of Gen Alpha have also taken to the streets. Students have closed their schools, sat in protest in front of public authorities, and even tried to do their own journalism — using a bottle as a microphone — so that those in power would hear them.
And what are they demanding?
Basic necessities: working fans, clean drinking water and hygienic toilets.
These are things that should have been provided decades ago. Yet today, students are no longer merely asking for them; they are standing up and fighting for what they believe they deserve.
But this raises a larger question: Why now?
After nearly 80 years of Independence, why are students questioning the very officials whom their fathers’ generation may once have been afraid to confront? Is it because of recent protests? Is it because of what the Chief Justice of India has said in recent hearings? Or are we witnessing a broader change in the way young Indians think about authority and their rights?
Whatever the reason, this growing wave of dissent may not stop here. It has the potential to influence other parts of the country, just as youth-led movements have influenced some of India’s neighbouring countries.
But there is an important distinction we must remember:
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No government is the same as the nation.
This distinction has often been blurred by political parties and governments. During the Emergency, the infamous political slogan was, “India is Indira and Indira is India.”
No. Indira was not India.
And today, no prime minister, political party or government is India either.
A government runs the administration of a nation, but it does not become the nation. Atal ji famously said Governments come and go. Political parties win and lose elections. Leaders change.
The nation belongs to its people.
And perhaps that is the different kind of independence we should celebrate today: the independence of ordinary citizens to raise their voices, demand accountability and question those who exercise power on their behalf.
People are asking questions. Students are asking questions. Young Indians are becoming increasingly willing to challenge authorities when they believe something is wrong.
That should not automatically be treated as hostility towards the country.
Patriotism does not require silence.
Asking questions of the government is not an anti-national activity. It is part of being a citizen in a democracy.
And perhaps the freedom to ask those questions is itself one of the most important forms of independence worth celebrating.
