Congratulations India as We Celebrate Our 66th Republic Day!

But are We Truly Republic?

Going by the weekday setting, today my mobile alarm went off at 6 AM, followed by another one at 6:15 AM (I have one more for 6:30, just in case I miss the other two). By then I was half awake and unwillingly stretched my hand out of the quilt and picked my mobile to switch on the wifi. I quickly checked my work email; depending on whether or not I have an explosive email waiting in my inbox, my day at work could go normal or abnormal. I relaxed as things seemed normal there. I proceeded to watsapp messages, wished good morning in groups. Finally, I opened my FB app. Well, that’s my typical weekday morning routine. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a workaholic or a social buff, but the bright light from the phone helps speeding up “getting out of the bed” process, which sometimes takes a couple of hours (yes I am not kidding, yesterday it took me 2 hours)! I browse through FB news feed every morning so that I do not miss any important updates, mainly birthdays and updates from news apps. This in many ways saves time, because most of the important news makes to FB and even if I miss scanning the news websites a day, I am still good to go. So, among the news feeds was a “republic day message” from one of my friends and that reminded me “Oh man! I am on leave today!” (Why the hell did I set an early alarm?)

Well, I was just being frank and I am sure for most of us, Republic Day and Independence Day are primarily holidays. That doesn't mean that we are any less patriotic, it has more to do with the busy life that we have been leading.

I have been a citizen of India for 30 years now and it was today that I pondered the meaning of “republic”. Although we have all studied that during our school days, here’s a reminder; seriously, it did refresh my memory. “Republic is the state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them”. Yes, as it is said “a government of the people, by the people and for the people”! Sounds great but I think practiced only in a Utopian setting.

Now, let me dissect this definition -

Supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote – Well, how many of us are entitled to vote and how many of us actually do vote? Keeping aside the never ending process of electoral cards, aadhar cards and the like, let me speak for myself. I exercised my first vote when I was 18 and like any youngster with the power to vote, I was excited. And would you believe if I say that was my last one too (till date)? Reason or rather reasons are plenty but I know those are never good enough to put me on the fair side. If I do not contribute in electing a representative, I have no right to criticize him or her either. Simple as that!

To more like me who have been avoiding going to the polling booth, for reasons best known to us - by not doing our duty of electing the right representative, are we being republic? I pledge to use my voting power henceforth, now that the government has provided a more practical solution for people like us (who are on transferable job and do not reside in their native place).

Supreme power… is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them – Now this is the most hilarious part. I grew up in a lower middle class family where my parents struggled to give us (sister and me) the best education possible. Thanks to them because of which today, we are independent and can make our choice including which politician should lead us. We have a say and we go by that. Now, take for instance the working or labour class. One day my maid came home very happy and the reason was, she got rupees 200 per person in her family, 4 bed sheets (one for each member of her family) and sarees; for what? She and her family voted for a particular party member. I was not shocked because I knew such things do happen. A couple of months ago, my maid’s husband came home all happy and glee, requesting if I could allow his wife a couple of hours break. Why? Again, because he had to withdraw his name from an upcoming election (the same one for which now they got all those goodies) and his wife needs to stand as a witness. He also added that he has been offered 4 lakh rupees for this, because the party fears majority votes getting split. Although I tried making him understand, he went on quoting his family problems and I finally went speechless!

If votes are being bought, are we truly republic?

I wouldn't go into the real dirty game of power and politics; we all know and have heard enough of it. But the definition of republic had another additional line to it, which I saved for the last – “a state in which the head of government is not a monarch or other hereditary head of state”.  I am sure most of you will remember a news story that was making its round in FB. There were many versions of it and if I may quote The Huffington Post headline, “More Than Half Of India’s Youths Want Military Rule”. I understand and can relate to this – people are feed up of corruption and slow economic as well as national growth. I completely get it. But what shocked me was the other part of the headline. The complete headline read “More Than Half Of India’s Youths Want Military Rule, Ban On Inter-Faith Free Mixing In Public, Survey Finds”. Seriously! And that too from the youth of a nation that calls itself secular and diverse! On a second thought, I felt this does not deserve much importance because, as rightly pointed out in the survey, majority of youth these days are not aware of the rights and duties, civic issues like rule of law, basic knowledge of democracy, election and all that. If I am told “the future of this country rests in the hands of its youth”, I would say “then I am worried, worried as hell”!

So, the moment my mind connected to Republic Day as just another holiday rather than a day I as an Indian citizen should be proud of, I thought I needed a reality check and went ahead and analyzed things in my own way. I wasn't making any statement and I am not skilled enough to, but something I think the nation needs desperately is “awareness” - awareness about everything including civic issues, because only a well informed citizen can make right decisions and contribute towards the overall growth and sustainability of the nation.

Happy Republic Day to every true Indian!