50 years of Independence: A Need for Introspection

A milestone event in India's history called for introspection of the events, good or bad, that contributed to the growth and foundation of the nation that picked up the ruins and started to build itself from scratch 50 years ago.

Inder Kumar Gujral, Prime Minister of India (1997-1998) hoisting the flag at Vijay Chowk; Image Source: IndiaToday

At the stroke of the midnight hour on August 15, 1947, Independent India was born. 50 years later, the democratically elected leaders assembled once again in the same hall of the Parliament House to commemorate the sacrifice of those men, women, and children who gave up their lives for the freedom of their Motherland.

Independent India had just turned 50. There was an air of festivity celebrating the half century to India’s freedom and democracy. At the young age of 50, India had witnessed myriad ups and downs, overcome multiple challenges, and made a mark for itself on the global map.

In addition to the euphoria that accompanied 50 years of Indian independence, there was a need to introspect; to look back at the journey of five decades, and to study the past, its problems and mistakes, identify the weak areas, reinforce the strong points, and to navigate a well-prepared roadmap for the future.

Keeping that in mind, a 6-day special session in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha was convened to commemorate the Golden Jubilee of India’s independence. The session was held from 26 August 1997 to 1 September 1997, soon after the celebrations of the 50th Independence Day.

While the Parliamentary Debates are not exactly known for their poised character, the Golden Jubilee session displayed a sense of sincerity on behalf of the Parliamentarians and not a single minute was lost in disorderliness or political disarray. It was conducted in an awe of India’s long-drawn process to freedom, and thus received the respect and honour it thoroughly deserved.

For the first time in the history of parliamentary proceedings, a single motion was carried throughout the entire session spanning over 6 days.

It cut across party lines, and all Members of the Parliament were truly dedicated to the cause of India’s future. At the end of the session, a resolution setting the “Agenda for India” was unanimously adopted by both houses. It focused on reforms such as bringing more transparency and accountability in public life, wider educational coverage, checking population growth, curbing corruption, and prudent management of the Indian economy. Education was sought to be made employment oriented, and universal primary education was resolved to be achieved by the year 2005. Additionally, the Agenda put forth the need for a time bound planning to achieve basic minimum needs like nutrition, health, potable water, sanitation, and shelter.

The session broke certain records in the history of Parliamentary sessions in India. The entire session spanned over a period of 64 hours and 29 minutes, with sessions extending through the night on two occasions. The proceedings of the entire session ran into 1788 typed pages.

A member of the Panel of Chairmen, P.C Chacko, broke an all-time record and created history by presiding over the House for a continuous duration of 7 hours and 58 minutes through the midnight of 31st August.

The entire proceedings were telecasted live.

In his opening speech, P.A. Sangma, the Speaker of Lok Sabha, called for a “Second Freedom Struggle” for the successful completion of 50 years of India’s independence. He emphasized that “this time the struggle should be for freedom from our own internal contradictions between prosperity and poverty, between the plenty of our resource endowments and the scarcity of their prudent management, between our culture of peace and tolerance and our current sliding towards violence, intolerance and discrimination.”

In its 50 years of independent functioning, India had upheld its sacrosanct ideals of equality, secularism, socialism, and most importantly of democracy. It was no less than a remarkable feat.

Having celebrated the 75th Independence Day recently, these feats become all the more important and significant. India has lived up to its principles and morals as envisaged by its leaders for 75 long but short years, for there are many more to come.