An Independence Day Message, as India Turns 73

Edgar Montes de Oca, Mexico City: "I created this image for all those fighting for democracy in India, especially the women and youth." This image sparked the #Art4ShaheenBagh movement hosted on HfHR website.

“A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand” — Abraham Lincoln, 1858

An Independence Day Message as India Turns 73

Delivered at the Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) I-Day commemoration (with some edits)

by Raju Rajagopal, Hindus for Human Rights - USA

Dear Friends,

I was privileged to be born just six weeks after Independent India was born. And, in many ways, my journey has mirrored the country’s extraordinary journey of 73 years. 

Despite having spent a major part of my life here in the United States, I can truly say -- using Tony Bennett’s iconic line -- that “I left my heart in Eternal India.” 

The fact that we Indian Americans of all faiths and ideologies spend so much energy to work and speak for India, and even fight about India, is itself a testimony that many of you too have left your hearts in India.

It’s a an honour to be with you all today to share a few thoughts on our homeland, especially directed at all Indians who are today hoisting the tricolour and singing Jana Gana Mana.

COVID-19 has caused enormous distress all over the world, but its impact will be particularly severe in India, whose economy rests on the shoulders of the poorer working class and migrant labor.

A friend from Bengaluru told me yesterday that over 10,000 businesses and 400 eating establishments have already shut down…permanently. I am sure that you have heard similar sad stories from other parts of India. 

But, in a silver lining, COVID-19 has also brought the urban middle class to engage more honestly and directly with the normally invisible working class. 

My friend, for instance, is working harder than ever to provide home banking services to millions of migrant workers back in their own villages, who are unable to travel outside their villages to distant banks and ATMs.

Another friend from Chennai took over an abandoned factory within days of hearing about the desperate shortage of protective gear for health workers and started manufacturing PPEs. He also requisitioned hundreds of two-wheeler helmets for a local hospital to help them tide over the lack of face shields.

The images of thousands of migrant families trudging back towards their distant homes will forever be etched in our collective memories. But, so will the memories of hundreds of local citizen groups gearing up at a short notice to supply them with food and water for days and weeks.

Today, my Chennai friend and others are giving serious thought to how they can welcome back guest workers to a new milieu in our cities, whenever they do come back: Cities that respect their contribution and are willing to give them better access to housing, healthcare, and a safe workplace.

We have all seen many troubling images of the police beating up largely Muslim protesters in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. But there are also examples of police humanity: e.g. The Chennai police commissioner got to know that an entire train of Tamilnadu workers were on their way back south, with no arrangement for food. He sent word to the Andhra Pradesh police, who pleasantly surprised the travelers at the Guntakal railway platform with packets of food -- an act of kindness from an unexpected quarter!

Such anecdotes may seem like small islands of hope in the middle of major disasters, both natural and man-made. But our honored guests today from India exemplify much more, as they risk their own safety on all of our behalf. 

As we honor them today, let us also recognize that compassion from ordinary citizens has always existed in our society. And it is really up to all of us to amplify and defend their voices, and link them together into larger islands of hope and action.

The question today in many people’s minds is what awaits India at the end of the COVID tunnel, in its 74th year?

Will Indians be more caring and gentler and take a civic and moral lesson from the virus, which did not care whether you were rich or poor; Hindu, Muslim, Christian, or Dalit? 

Will we seize the new windows of opportunities to work towards eliminating casteism and communalism from our midst, and call for an end to the surging violence against Muslims and other minorities?

Will we recognize the immorality of locking up an entire people in Kashmir in pursuit of the jingoistic nationalist goal of a few? 

Will we decry the arrests and harassment of scores of citizens for merely exercising their right to question the government and the courts? 

I wish I could confidently say, yes. Unfortunately, there are too many troubling signs of brewing storms that threaten to inundate even those small islands of hope. 

What can we all do about it? 

My Plea today: Make yourself part of India’s SECOND STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE: 

Do your bit to achieve ‘Independence’ from communal hatred; ‘Independence’ from ultra-nationalism that sees some Indians as more equal than others; ‘Independence’ from corruption that is eating away our souls; and ‘Independence’ from caste discrimination that continues to haunt us decades after the most egalitarian constitution was adopted.  

As we salute India, let us think again about the significance of our national flag: Strength and Sacrifice, Peace, Prosperity, and Dhamma. And let us move forward with our Second Struggle for Independence, with courage and peace in our hearts and non-violence as our guide to action.

Today, more than ever, I am reminded of Abraham Lincoln’s words in 1858, “A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand.” Those prescient words seem as relevant to the people of America today, as it is to all the people of India who love their country.. 

As I turn 73, the aches and pains are reminding me that there is a finite end to each productive human life. But the Multi-religious and Pluralistic India at 73 is but an infant, requiring a lot of love, care and nourishment. We must not inflict so much trauma upon her that she may never fully grow into a mature and functioning adult capable of loving all her children equally.

JAI HIND! JAI BHIM! And Happy Independence Day!