WHAT A FREEDOM! WHAT AN ENDURANCE! WHAT A PEOPLE!

After a long 190 years of slavery India gained freedom from the British on 15th August 1947. But that was not a mere freedom we have won. It was a freedom to do anything, anywhere and anytime! If we go through the media reports of our country for the past 75 years we can see the extent of freedom the 143 crores people have today.

Soon after securing independence we killed the one who fought his whole life for freedom of India. Again we killed a prime minister who brought up the country to a very high level. Do we say these are freedom of expression? While going through the criminal history of our country, as per various media reports there were 41,330 homicides in India in 2021. Can we say it freedom to kill? There is a growth of 70.7% crime against women between 2005 and 2018. An average number of 25,000 plus rape cases every year were reported in the past decade. Do we call it freedom to destroy women of our country? Anyone can shout slogans against our elected prime minister and chief minister. Do we say freedom to this too? The people of the country pay huge sum towards salary and allowance to government employees. But many of them refuse to offer any service without putting the required amounts in their pockets from time to time. Many of them have made huge wealth in this way. Some have taken this money to foreign banks. Even though we have all the resources to find out the details of such  people, the concerned authorities do not take steps to confiscate such illegally earned wealth.  We may call this too freedom? As a whole we have enough freedom to destroy any number of vehicles on the road, damage any number of office buildings, write anything anywhere, use abusive language at public places, mix any harmful materials in food items and make people sick, freely use narcotics and even encourage school children to use this, free the criminals found guilty and punished by the courts from jails. Judiciary give its verdict against those who are examined and proved as criminals. Elected representatives of the people with the approval of the constitution free them from the jail before completion of full term of punishment.  What an amazing freedom! The list of our such freedom goes endless!

If we can find out the living conditions of each family of this country, we may see that a good number of them do not have sufficient food every day. That is their freedom, some may say. All said and done, it is high time for us to evaluate our freedom and restructure it suitably. If the middle class and poor of this country do not wake up from their 77 years sleep and react appropriately within the purview of the constitution of the country, the list of hungry and illiterate will keep bulging. The number of corrupt may become endless! 'Jai! Mahan Bharat ka Maha Janta!'

K V George