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On the 79th Independence Day, the Prime Minister once again tried to sell the empty dream of “Viksit Bharat” and “Atmanirbhar Bharat” from the Red Fort, even as the country faces an uncertain future. Millions of youth in the country remain unemployed or are forced into informal gig work that barely sustains them, while the government stages elaborate flag-waving spectacles with students and youths—a distraction from policies that systematically erode their prospects. The key issues of employment guarantee, free and equal education and healthcare remain conspicuously absent from these performative displays.
Worse still is the Prime Minister’s ridiculous glorification of the RSS, an organization that not only did not take part in the country’s freedom struggle, but acted against it by collaborating with the British and asking the youth to stay away from any form of anti-colonial struggle. To celebrate such a fascist organisation on Independence Day is to spit on the graves of our great revolutionary martyrs who laid down their lives for independence. If this was not enough, in his characteristic style Modi spewed communal venom against “infiltrators” for stealing ‘Bread’ and ‘Daughters’. This communal fascist ploy is aimed at creating a false enemy in the form of Muslims to divert people’s attention from the real problems of people while his government keeps on serving the capitalist plunderers.
The truth is that even after nearly 8 decades of independence, the story of our independence remains one of miserably failed promises. The government’s claims of growth, like surpassing Japan in terms of GDP, crumble under scrutiny. Infrastructure projects may dazzle the well off section of the society, but without jobs and social security, they serve only as a propaganda tool. Instead of doing anything concretely to create new jobs, the Prime Minister took resort to yet another tokenism by announcing “Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana”—a paltry ₹15,000 stipend for first-time private-sector hires. Instead of falling for this tokenism, the question the youth of this country would like to ask is what happened to the tall promises of creating 2 crore jobs a year? Such tokenism is a cruel joke for around 32 crore youth of this country. In an economy where 82% of male and 92% of female workers earn less than ₹10,000 a month, there is no hope for a prosperous life for majority of youth even if they get an informal job in private sector.
Meanwhile, essential public services are being dismantled through aggressive privatization. Education has become a luxurious commodity, with exorbitant fees in private institutions while government schools are crumbling due to neglect. Healthcare is now a profit-driven industry where millions are getting bankrupt by unaffordable medical bills, even as the government slashes health budgets every year. As soon as we take a glance at this dire situation, the balloon of ‘Viksit Bharat’ is punctured.
Furthermore, in the last 11 years we have witnessed that the fascist Modi government is on a mission to crush the democratic rights of Students, activists, journalists and ordinary citizens who dare to raise any kind of critical voices. The laws like UAPA are conveniently misused to silence the critics of those in power, while investigative agencies target opposition leaders. The systematic erosion of civil liberties exposes the fascist regime masquerading as a democratic government, where only obedient praise is permitted while inconvenient questions are criminalized.
For the students and youth of this country, this is not the time to be deceived by the empty promises of the rulers and their call to participate in the callous celebrations. It is the time to seriously ponder over the dire situation in which the majority of toiling masses of India find themselves. It is time for laying the foundation of a revolutionary politics that talks about a prosperous future for every one and not just for a handful of moneybags.
#IndependenceDay #youth #delhi #unemployment #August15
