SOMEBODY HAS rightly said that India came into existence on August 15, 1947, but the State was born on January 26, 1950, the day our Constitution was implemented. The Indian Constitution was the dream codified by those who had fought the war of independence, sacrificed everything to wrest control from the colonial Britain. They had a dream of an India where everybody irrespective of his/her social and economic status is equal, a state where everybody could live in tranquility. Where there is guarantee to their lives, earnings and fair distribution of the wealth generated – a country free from any prejudice and devoid of elitism.

We are into our 62^nd year of independence and 60 republic days have passed, but the dreams of all those who drafted the Constitution are yet to be materialised. One may term me cynical but it is worth analysing whether we have moved closer to the dreams which framers of the Constitution had envisioned or have we drifted away from the goals and duties entrusted upon the political class and citizens.

The Indian Constitution rests on the ideals of Sovereignty, Socialists, Secular, Democratic Republic, Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Half a decade has passed and it is in the interest of the nation to find out whether these ideals have been imbibed by the political class and citizens, do these exist on the ground and not just on paper.

India right from the first breath after freedom has been the victim of hostility from across the border and since then we have fought four wars, one with China and rest three with Pakistan and have ceded territories to both of them. Is this what sovereignty means? Terrorism has become a common thing in almost all over India. People live in constant fear, a fear of falling victim to the act of terrorism, both sponsored by the neighbours and home grown. How can we say ourselves sovereign when we cannot protect our citizens from the devilish conspiracy of our enemies?  Incidences like the Mumbai massacre, frequent incursions from the western as well as eastern border, killing of Pakistani militants in India put a serious question mark on our sovereignty.  Is it fair to call Indian state sovereign when it cannot arrest people like Thackreys for spreading terror among non-Marathis. These incidences point out that India is not sovereign even within its geography.

Secularism had its first blow when the Kashmiri Pandits were flushed out from the valley and made refugees in their own country. Babri Masjid shook the foundations of secularism and burning of Sabramati Express and Gujarat riots sounded the death knell of the ideals of secularism. There have been incidences when things were given the color of communalism just to seek the vote of either community.

Democracy for all practical purposes is dead in India. The democratic principle on which Indian polity was supposed to stand has been replaced by a system aptly explained by the term “monarchy” to a large extent. There is no clear instruction given in the Constitution limiting the number of terms one can become Prime Minister neither there is any for the number of times one can become the Member of Parliament. Here the Indian form of government looks more like monarchy disguised as democracy. We see same faces and face same problems again and again, elections after elections. Many parliamentarians and those who are at the helm have been around from more than two decades yet they have not come up with a road map to success, ways to eliminate corruption, do away with red tape, removing the barrier between those governing and those governed, framing an effective counter terrorism strategy emanating from Pakistan and Bangladesh.

There are many Badals in India at least equal to the number of states for whom countering terrorism and preventing terrorist attack means expanding their security cover and increasing the number of security personnel. For them a period of twenty years is too less to pursue any agenda and make it a success. They are keener at keeping you waiting for any development work to even start in their constituencies but quick to fill their coffers with the money given to them to undertake development work. Every election makes them rich by the amount they receive for the developmental work plus bribes. No body has asked the cause of non-development in an area from where same politician is getting elected form the past two decades.

Even after change of guards the problem of common man remains unaddressed. Allocation of petrol pumps to contract in government works they are active everywhere except in developing their constituency and they do it till they are incapacitated either by natural death or replaced by another crook.  Both the PM and the PM(s)-in-waiting are well above seventy years but there is hardly any signal that they going to give way to younger generation. Our parliament is full of septuagenarians and there is no sign of handing over of the reigns to younger generation. There succession plans also revolves round there loved, dear and near ones. There is no great a joke than expecting these seasoned septuagenarians, who even after so many years around the power centre did nothing, to take this country forward in coming days.

Our judicial system is plagued by the delay and purposeful obfuscation of the facts, inefficient and rotten and corrupt system of investigation. There is the case where one man continuously breaks the law and gets away without any penalty, police sitting on the court orders to arrest and bring the person to the court. Do we really need a crystal ball to know what would happen to any heavy weight politician if at all any investigation is initiated against him? Rapid criminalisation of politics across the length and breadth of the country highlights the rot within and the ineffectiveness of the criminal justice system in India. We have the judiciary who is willing to dispose cases in most sincere fashion but is always presented with cooked facts by the investigating agencies especially the state police departments. Justice in India not only delayed but denied as well.

We are suffering not because we are plagued by so many problems due to so many people who were supposed to work towards the emancipation of those who have elected them but because we have chosen to ignore our problems, chosen to resist change when it comes to removing non performing politicians, our unrealistic attitude and complacency. It is because of these later traits of ours that Indian Democracy, which was supposed to cherish and fulfill the dreams of framers of Constitution, has become Demonocracy.