As the nation enters the year-long celebration of the 75th anniversary of Independence, contrasting pictures come to mind glaringly. The portrayals swing from one extreme to another: from a starving nation that depended on rich countries like the United States for its food materials to a grain-surplus country now; from 82 per cent illiterates to 75 per cent literates; from 20 universities to a nation dotted with over 800 varsities; from a handful of state-owned ordnance factories and other units to a few hundred public sector undertakings that took various sectors to near self-sufficiency; from around 40,000 km of road networks to over 6 million km, which is the second-largest road network in the world. The list of achievements can go on and on beyond the permissible word limit here.  

But this story has another side, not so complimentary or flattering. In the Global Hunger Index 2020 India ranks 94 out 104 countries, behind Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. According to the OXFAM inequality report 2021, India has the world’s fourth lowest health budget and it spends a measly 1.26% of its GDP on health. 

It registers a poor ranking of 131 among 189 countries in the latest Human Development Index released by the UNDP. In the Happiness Index, it fares no better with 139th rank among 156 nations. In World Peace Index, its position is at 139 among 163. Such dismal rankings of India can be reeled out from many more areas and they remain consistently poor year after year, poking a nose at the grandiose claims of the governments.   

However, what is frightening and ominous is none of the above inglorious grading and ratings put out by world organizations. It is the threat to democracy hanging like a Damocles sword; it is the naked violation of Constitutional provisions and values by the present dispensation; it is the all-out assault on the nation’s soul, on the very idea of India, that has been clearly and succinctly expressed in the Preamble of the Constitution; it is the fascist ideas fast taking roots among the vulnerable people; it is the systematic decimation of citizens’ rights and freedoms; it is the proclivity for authoritarian actions behind the façade of democracy; It is the new concept of majoritarian nationalism that has relegated minorities to the status of second class citizens. 

The present regime bulldozes ahead with ruthless obstinacy, vindicating Babasaheb Ambedkar’s prediction: However good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it, happen to be a bad lot. 

Independent India has never been at the mercy of a government paranoid about its own insecurity as the present one. This has resulted in the State apparatus misusing its powers to invoke such draconian laws like National Security Act, sedition laws and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act so that anyone who dares to dissent ends up behind bars. The sanctum sanctorum of democracy, Parliament, too is witnessing the powers-that-be riding roughshod over Opposition to pass Bills without a modicum of discussion. The Opposition MPs are left helpless, unable to raise the pressing problems of the people. As the country stands on the cusp of 75 years of its independence, every democratic institution of this largest democracy is slowly but steadily decimated, brick by brick.