Why do We Celebrate 26 January??

We celebrated 60 years of being a republic yesterday. But did we? I mean did it mean anything more than just a holiday to most of the people of the nation? I guess not. At least it didn’t mean anything to mean and my friends. Munching the boondi ladoos and fried peanuts in the mess, given on the auspicious occasion, I asked my friend whether it was essential to distribute these or whether we needed to celebrate republic day even. And the answer was a flat ‘No’. Quite true and justified!!

The question is why do we need to celebrate a day when we can’t relate to it? How have the people of this ‘great’ nation benefitted from the Right to Vote and other rights granted by our Constitution? The rich are enjoying life as they did during the colonial era and it actually doesn’t bother them who is sitting at the Centre and making policies. The poor are getting poorer and hardly get any time from their struggle to survival to think about the governance. It is only the middle class which is concerned about the government. But that interest is also fading as it is broken by the false promises of the government. Right to Equality is there but those who have money in their pockets want and actually are treated with special care and attention. Celebrities are treated as Gods and netas (political leaders) as the makers or our ‘destiny’. We have the Right to Speak but no one is there to listen to our grievances. We have the Right to Move Anywhere within the country but MNS is there to beat the north Indians out of ‘their’ state, and ironically no government can act against it. We have the Right to Education but there are no schools and if schools are there, tutors are not!!

The government says that the country is growing at a rate as never before but is this development really reaching the lowest strata of the society?  Are those located in the remote countryside actually able to enjoy the benefits of freedom and democracy? The poverty has risen to 37 percent and about 400 million people live below the poverty line. And by no means is the number small. So, instead of creating a hoopla about the day and wasting the precious money of the taxpayers, wont it be better to do something meaningful for the aam aadmi (the common people)? Something to which the junta relate to? Something for which we wait for this day every year? Something which can make the day cheerful and enjoyable, instead of making it boring and sluggish?