As we celebrate the fifty sixth-independence day, we are struck by a series of ideas, which are disturbing as well as soothing. The state of Human rights and democracy as a whole is undergoing a serious turmoil requiring a serious introspection. We have witnessed one of the worst communal violence in the recent times in the form of Gujarat. This was the violence with a difference in more ways than one. Its aftermath, the attempt to punish the guilty is also very different as for the first time the witnesses are not only turning hostile out of fear of the state machinery but also are scared of the culprits of the carnage. The violation of the democratic rights of minorities is just a tip of the iceberg, what lies underneath is a total repression of the possibility of rights of weaker sections of society. The adivasi, dalits, women and workers are facing an unprecedented onslaught on their very existence and dignity. The atrocities on dalits are on the rise, the violation of women's being is frightening, the rising unemployment is just an indicator of the state of economy, and the encroachment on the adivasi lands further makes the scenario bleaker.

The major glaring change on the political horizon has been the rise of politics in the name of religion, Hindutva. Since it is able to confuse the average person as if it is some sort of a religion, due to which emotive come to the fore. As such this Hindutva is totally opposed to the values of our freedom struggle, the values enshrined in our constitution, the ones of Liberty, Equality and Community. This has unleashed diverse social forces which on one hand are trying to crush democratic principles of our democracy on the one hand on the other the opposite set of forces and movements have come up which are struggling to keep aloft the humanitarian, egalitarian and just values of our society.

Our independent struggle was an outcome of a long drawn out process. It was not a mere struggle to do away with the British rule. Its two other important components were: One to assist the process of emergence of India as a modern Nation state, abolishing the feudalism and kingdoms. And two and probably the most crucial part was a transition to the relations of equality, a struggle against the caste and gender hierarchy. It goes without saying that since the movement was based on the primacy of Indian identity and the primacy of the concept of citizenship over the identity of religious community, people from all the religious streams joined the movement whole heartedly. Today by deliberate design the role of minority communities in the freedom struggle is being questioned. The matters are crystal clear, any study of independence movement will show the magic of Gandhi, i.e. Indian nationalism cut across all the religious boundaries, it dissolved them in the building of modern India. As it was based on the principles of caste and gender equality people from all the castes and women also whole heartedly participated in this greatest mass movement of twentieth century, our freedom struggle.

Independence saw the crystallization of the principles of Indian freedom struggle getting enshrined in our constitution. It opened the social and political space for all the religious communities, all the castes and both the genders. Our constitution was well backed up by the policies of the state, which tried to ensure that religion becomes the private matter of the individual. Nehru's opposition to Rajendra Prasad's participating in Somanth temple inauguration was not the lone act. This was backed up by the intense industrialization and broadening of the education process. The two key processes which brought the dalits and women into social-political space and which ensured that people from all the communities are part of the social and political life.

The reversal to this process was started of in the mid seventies with V P Singh and A B Vajpayee approaching the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid to issue a fatwa to vote in favour of Janata Party. Later Indira Gandhi was to improvise on this game and started visiting temples and projecting the fear of petro dollars in the wake of Meenkashipuram conversions. RSS-VHP cried foul at these conversions and Rath yatras became the prime mechanism of social mobilization or rather the social struggles were dwarfed by the emotive appeals in the name of religion. With Rajiv Gandhi reversing the Shah Bano Judgement through an act of parliament the circle became complete and the way was now open for the blatant communalization of social space. And now the Sangh Parivar entered the game in its full naked glory. The concepts, which were earlier rejected, by the Nation, Hindutva, Hindu rashtra were installed on the mass consciousness. The Hate campaign against minorities peaked in the demolition of Babri Masjid and burning of Pastor Graham Stuaaw Satins. Since then the political discourse was made to change its track from the issues pertaining to poverty, hunger, disease misery, unemployment, lack of health facilities, housing etc to the place for temple etc and the hurt of religious psyche of majority community.

The major attempt by communal forces is to curtail the attempts for caste and gender equality. Its goal is to preserve the Hindu unity without disturbing the caste and gender equations. This has been achieved by creating an external enemy in the form of Muslims and Christians. And the dangers posed by the 'acts of these minorities' are projected to be affecting the Hindu community, its unity, its rights. The techniques being used are straight from the time-tested one's, those used by Hitler's Nazis in Germany in the decades of 1930s. The communal hatred and violence are being used to obfuscate the real social issues and the basic social concerns. In addition the ghettoisation of minority community is going on and the extension of this divisive politics is being spread into the southern states as well the level of communalization is being deepened.

The real threat posed by this politics is not just to the minorities but also to all the weaker sections of society. This ghettoisation on one hand is strengthening the Mullahs and orthodox sections in society further worsening the image of the Muslim minority, whose image has been manufactured in evil colors by the communal forces with RSS in the fore. Lately this image has been further blackened by those international forces, which are propagating the ideology of Clash of Civilizations.

In this stark scenario the hope is coming in the form of resolve of democratic forces believing in pluralism to come up and uphold the values of justice. Lately, especially after the Gujarat carnage the attention of the social action groups is focused on the issue of communalism and many of them are making special efforts to take up the cause of defense of democracy. Awareness about threats to democracy is being reached to the broad layers of society. Also the demonization of minorities is being combated by different mechanisms, educational and cultural. Within Muslim minorities while on one hand the orthodox elements have got strength, on the other lately one is witnessing the ripples of progressive Muslims coming with the voice of sanity and reason. There are umpteen examples of Muslim organizations protesting against the highhandedness of Pakistan or terrorist attacks here and there. There are many an organizations calling for reforms in the community, asking for education and other facilities. Amongst Christian community innumerable groups and individuals are working for democratic ethos while fighting for preservation of safeguards for minorities. The strongest factor is the longing of the minority groups to link their struggles and aspirations with the struggles of the other deprived sections of society. The emerging aspiration for a  social and political struggles may crystallize in to a platform for secular issues. One also sees a hope in the emerging global peace movement, which stands to oppose the imperialist designs of controlling the oil resources, and in the process demonizing Islam and sowing the seeds for rise of terrorism.

Celebrating this Independence Day one is having mixed feelings. The rise of Hindutva as a cover for suppression of caste and gender equality at home and Clash of Civilization thesis as a cover for controlling oil resource feed into each other. The agenda of global imperialism and religion based politics matches. Both have created a common enemy in Islam and Muslims. Of course at home Hindutva can project an additional enemy in Christians. Both aim to suppress the rights of weaker sections of society here and weaker Nations worldwide. The response in the form of rising movements has immense challenges to confront and in this battle one looks forward with hope and optimism towards the values which uphold justice and rights of the exploited and oppressed sections of society.