“Happy Independence Day!” shouted my neighbour as he hoisted the national flag.
“Thank you,” I said. “Does that mean I am free?”
“Of course!” he replied proudly. “This is a free country.”
“So I may disagree with you?”
His smile disappeared.
“Why do you want to spoil Independence Day?” he asked.
And therein lies our strange understanding of freedom. We love freedom when it waves from a flagpole, marches past us in uniform, or arrives through a patriotic song. But when freedom knocks at our door wearing the face of someone who disagrees with us, we refuse to let it in.
Every August, we decorate our buildings, pin little flags to our shirts and stand stiffly while the anthem plays. Politicians deliver speeches about liberty from platforms guarded by hundreds of policemen. Schoolchildren dress as freedom fighters, while teachers warn them not to ask too many questions.
“Today we remember those who fought for freedom,” says the principal.
“Sir, may I ask why…” begins a student.
“Silence!” says the principal. “Questions after the programme!”
We celebrate the people who questioned an empire, but become uncomfortable when our children question us.
The British left India seventy nine years ago, but the little British officer inside many of us refused to leave. He lives in the father who chooses his daughter’s future, the employer who humiliates his staff, the religious leader who silences doubt, and the politician who believes criticism is treason.
We replaced the foreign ruler but preserved his chair.
True independence is not merely the right to wave my flag. It is my willingness to let you wave yours. It is not only my freedom to speak, worship, write and vote. It is my courage to protect those same freedoms when you speak words I dislike, worship differently, write against my beliefs, or vote for someone I oppose.
Freedom becomes real when the majority protects the minority, the powerful respect the powerless, and the government listens to the governed.
Perhaps this Independence Day, after the flag has been lowered and the laddoos distributed, we should conduct a small test.
Can my child choose without fear?
Can my neighbour disagree without danger?
Can a journalist question without punishment?
Can a citizen criticise without being called a traitor?
If the answer is no, then our flag may be flying, but freedom is still struggling to rise.
Let us celebrate Independence Day, certainly. But let us practise it.
Because freedom that lasts for one ceremony is decoration.
Freedom that lives every day is independence..!