The Day of the Declaration

It is in a funny way we treat important dates. August 15 is a day of celebration. It gave us independence. Or so it is believed. November 26 is a deadly day- 26/11 happened. I remember someone asking, “What happened on September 11, 2001?” It took some time for people to realize the obvious and soon the answer was acknowledged “Yes, 9/11 happened”. What does January 26 mean to us. Few people see beyond the unabashed display of arms and the President’s speech because we do not go into what it really stood for. The need to understand the history behind 26 January comes from the fact that only the past makes 26 January 26 January.

26 January, unlike popular belief, stood for Independence. Many Indians would know a lot about the much romanticized “Declaration of Independence” of the USA thanks to Nicholas Cage and his buddies in the Hollywood. But what about “our” Declaration of Independence and our original independence day. Some vague lessons of the much slept history classes and some mugged up question-answers comes in the mind. But even the memory of the topper of those short-term memory tests (a.k.a. examinations) may not be brawny enough.

Cutting all the gabble, 26 January, 1930 was the day India promulgated the declaration of Independence or the pledge of Purna Swaraj. On that day we declared ourselves an independent country, no longer under the clutches of the imperialists. The Declaration began “We believe that it is the incredible right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom to enjoy the fruits of their soil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities of growth… if any government deprives a people of these and oppress them, the people have a further right to alter or abolish it”

It was the first time the Indian National Congress had declared complete independence and it was Gandhi who drafted it. The declaration said- “We believe therefore, that India must server the British connection and attain Purna Swaraj or complete independence… We hold it to be a crime against man and God to submit any longer to a rule that has caused this fourfold disaster to our country.” The Home Rule movement and the Nehru Report (under Motilal Nehru) had earlier advocated only for a dominion status of India within the British Empire. In December 1928, Mahatma Gandhi proposed a resolution that called for the British to grant dominion status to India within two years, which was later reduced to one year, failing which the Congress would demand for complete independence.

So after one year of British apathy, at the midnight of December 31, 1929 at a massive public gathering in Lahore, Jawaharlal Nehru declared “Purna Swaraj” or complete independence from the British and asked the people to observe January 26 as Independence Day. The Tricolour flag of India was hoisted by Nehru on the banks of the river Ravi in Lahore and later Nehru and his colleagues danced around the flag post. On January 26, 1930, the declaration of purna swaraj was publicly issued and people all over the country celebrated India‘s Independence day and this day was celebrated every following year.

Cut the scene to the August 15, 1947- while some people nonchalantly left their everything for an alien planet, others took up the sword and killed each other. Millions died. Gandhi mourned in an ashram. There was hardly any celebration or any sense of pride in what we won. August 15 does not stand for Independence, it stands for partition.

On the eve of August 15, Nehru began his celebrated speech “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.” Sadly not many understand what it means. The tryst with destiny was the pledge India had taken long years ago- on the 26th of January 1930. However the pledge taken in Lahore, couldn’t be redeemed in full measure due to Partition. So the 26th of January is in no way subsidiary to the “independence” day. In fact even after August 15th, India was only a dominion which had not formally relinquished all ties with the British.

26 January also gives us an opportunity to introspect whether we have lived upto the values of the pledge. The declaration of January 26 says “The British Government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses, and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally and spiritually” It further speaks on how a normal Indian is heavily taxed, how the village industry has been destroyed, how customs and imported British goods are undesirable. It also spoke of how “The rights of free expression of opinion and free association have been denied to us” and how “the system of education has torn us from our moorings and our training has made us bug the very chains that bind us”.

Where have we reached 80 years after this declaration? Has the injustices decreased or has it been reaffirmed more so in the recent years? Its important to take one hard look at ourselves and the nation and try to reach an answer conscientiously. The extreme contradictions in the country does not paint a rosy picture, hence we must deliberate- where we have reached, which direction we are now heading and where we must be ideally heading.

There was also some mention of 26/11in the beginning. That was just to highlight the way we misconstrue dates. It was on November 26, 1949 that the Constitution was formally enacted, not on January 26, 1950. 26/11 stood for the spirit of the Constitution not the burning Taj. August 15th stood for partition, tragedy and the dominion status not independence or celebration. January 26 represented freedom, the promise of independence and the formation of the nation-state, and not just the Constitution and parade.

Hence January 26 is a day to celebrate. This also makes me wonder, why the government mandates January 26 to be a dry day while on August 15 you are allowed to celebrate with drinks. Perhaps its time to recognize the freedoms January 26 stood for. It’s time to analyse whether we have redeemed the pledge we undertook 80 years back. It’s time to resolve to take more actions in furtherance of the vision of January 26- that means more than just resolving to celebrate the freedom of the republic day with booze.