Is this just the difference?
Summary: Gul Raza Rahi Arriyavi
"August 15" is an incomplete sentence, and you know that an incomplete sentence is unable to convey the full meaning; but this is such an incomplete sentence that it is an ocean of meanings, depth of thought, a boundless sea of events, the garden of a centuries-old painful story, a school of sacrifices of millions of people. This incomplete sentence does not just convey a meaning; rather, it conveys multiple meanings. There is no need to even mention the year '47; everything is understood automatically—what the event is, what happened, and why we give it importance.
There are many questions: When did India become enslaved? To whom? By whom? Why? Who made it a slave? Why? How? Was an effort made for its freedom or not? If so, by whom? When? How? Why? How much loss of life occurred? How much financial loss? How much religious loss? And how much worldly loss? What was the result? Did we become free or not?
These are all the questions that come to mind on the occasion of August 15. Historians have written about this; long books have been written in this regard. Are we acquainted with these dates or not?
Today in India, the majority consists of those who are unaware of these dates, and no one even wants to know. And those who do know are not fully aware, and some are under the misconception that the first war of independence took place in 1857.
People do not even fully remember what happened in the year '47—
Why do we celebrate August 15? In this regard, people have the idea in their minds that we became free; but the question is, did we become free? Everyone has their own opinion. An "opinion" is an opinion; it is not necessary that everyone likes every opinion, but everyone has the freedom of expression. I believe that we did not become free at all; rather, the news of freedom was just spread among the people so that a passion could subside from the mind. We are still living in the same misconception today that we are free. This was a rumor that was floated, and we grabbed onto it.
The enemy has been very expert in spreading false rumors. We are not free; rather, the nature of slavery has been changed. We were slaves before and we are slaves now. The only difference is that before, the enemy enslaved us by considering us an enemy; now, the enemy has enslaved us by calling us a friend. How much freedom do you have? You know this too. How much freedom do you have here? This is in your knowledge. A measure for everything is fixed for you; you call this freedom. We took the leash of our slavery from a foreign power and gave it to a domestic power. The only difference is that before we suffered oppression from one hand, and now from another. Before, there was no one to give us ointment, and as a result, we would die; now, an ointment-giver is available so that we can be targeted for oppression again. Before, we were oppressed because of loyalty to the country, which was a matter of pride for us; and now, we are targeted for cruelty by being accused of being traitors to the country and foreigners.
Tell me! Is this freedom? We would be free when we were free in our opinions, when we were safe from every kind of oppression and excess, when we had the power to go throughout the country without fear or danger with our original identity. We would be free in religious practice, free from the conspiracies against us, free from the chains of accusations. We should also get as much right as a free man gets. This question should come to mind: Are we free? Or are we involved in some wishful thinking?
We should read; we should create awareness through history so that questions arise in our minds and the search and quest for their answers continue.