THE TERM Be-gum-pura (no-sorrow-place or the land without sorrow) is a utopia upheld by radical Bhakti poet Ravidass (1450-1520). Begumpura is a city that is casteless, classless and does not have untouchability. In this city, nobody is taxed and nobody owns wealth; there is no injustice, no worries, no terror, and no torture.

Conceptually Begumpura is a lode-star to guide humanity beyond the barriers of discrimination towards equality. Ravidassia and other Dalit scholars argue that Begumpura is the original socialism envisaged in the 15th century. Yes, truly Ravidass and Begumpura is a far reaching idea, a weapon to emancipate the non-privileged.

In that sense, Begumpura also becomes the voice of all oppressed. Today, on the 73rd anniversary of India’s freedom from British, one can read our freedom struggle as a search for Begumpura.

To create a nation based on social justice, truly equal for every citizen irrespective of gender, religion, caste, and language. That is what Nehru meant in the speech at the stroke of the midnight hour on the night of August 14-15, 1947:

‘Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny; and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.

‘A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new — when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India, and her people, and to the still larger cause of humanity…’

However, we sadly note that today we are nowhere near ‘not wholly or in full measure’ and have ‘very substantially’ in the last seven decades plunged deeper into divisions and prejudices. The quest for power by privileged groups and vote-hungry political parties devoid of ethics have dislodged our quest for Begumpura.

We have observed, it does not matter which political party is in power, crony capitalism rules. The poor and non-Suvarna castes suffer. Recent developments on the political landscape – the rise of Hindutva – have further eclipsed the ideals of the Constitution.

In fact, it would not be wrong to say that recent developments such as the Prime Minister himself laying the foundation stone of the Ram Temple – birthplace of the mythical Lord Ram – at the site where the Babri Masjid had existed for hundreds of years has unambiguously ushered in the Hindu Rashtra.

It is best exemplified in a quote by one of the journalists who was recently beaten up in Bhajanpura in East Delhi where he had gone to investigate the February anti-Muslim pogrom.

At the Bhajanpura police station, a senior police official told him, ‘India got independence in 1947, but true independence came only 5-7 years ago.’ When the journalist asked the officer what he meant by that, the officer replied, ‘This is independence. People are doing what they want. People are being killed, being beaten. This is independence.’

Ironically, Bhajanpura means: the place of ritual singing of religious hymns. That sums up our journey of the last seven plus decades. We have moved from a quest of Begumpura to Bhajanpura – a dogmatic world of idolatry where ritual singing of hymns is more important than seeking truth and justice.

How far we have gone from the ideals of Ravidass, of all Bhakti poets who sought to navigate us out of blind worship, of all those freedom fighters who sought to actualise a real, equal, self-rule by Indians.

The cruel fact of the Independence Day is that it marks the birth of a nation but the blood spilt in this birth was of Punjab and Bengal. They together lost a million people, fourteen million were displaced. They still mourn their dead.

What do they have to celebrate about India becoming free? In fact, the day should be of mourning, of remembering the dead in the Partition of India and Pakistan.

Yet, it is our tendency to gloss over the sadness, to not acknowledge it. It is this cultural behaviour of ours that has now brought the nation to such a pass that a secular state has turned majoritarian Hindutva.

The Hindutva forces have used the trauma of Partition, the othering of Pakistan and Muslim community at large, to determine not only the Legislative through elections but also change its Executive, Judiciary, and most of its Media.

On this day, Punjab Today stands in solidarity with journalists who – in spite of the many difficulties and challenges posed by this Hindutva regime – continue to do their job fearlessly.