Between WhatsApp greetings and headlines of horror.

As we step into the 78th year of our independence, thousands of Indians like you and me are stuck in a dilemma. Should our chests be puffed with pride today, or our eyes downcast with shame? Our WhatsApps are flooded with “Happy Independence Day” messages. Social media, on the other hand, is ablaze with the rape and murder of a young doctor on duty. Oxymorons.

My thoughts are like vagrant street urchins today, running wayward in different directions. I am a proud Indian. Undoubtedly, in the past few decades, India has emerged as a global entity to be reckoned with. We are now the world’s fifth-largest economy, with one-third of Silicon Valley powered by our people. We own Jaguar Land Rover. We are the second-largest smartphone market and telecom industry. We became the “Pharmacy of the World” during Covid. ISRO’s Chandrayaan-3 reached the South Pole of the moon. We brought home an Oscar. We excelled in sports. The list is undeniable.

We are also the only nation that clapped from our balconies to cheer medical staff during Covid. And yet, four and a half years later, we are the same nation where a female doctor was barbarously raped and murdered while on duty. Reports speak of torture, broken limbs, bleeding eyes. Glass shards were found in them—did her rapists want to erase the reflection of their own crime?

She is not the only one. There was Nirbhaya. The sisters in Baduan. Laxmi drenched in acid. Anjali dragged for kilometres. The Kathua child. The Hyderabad vet. The list is endless. What has changed since the past? Since “development”? What is the difference between the atrocities of Partition in 1947, the crimes against Sikhs in 1984, and now? Then it was women who paid the price. Now, it is still women who pay. Our bodies remain the battlefield on which the nation rehearses its violence.

So tell me—should we feel happy this Independence Day? Should these filthy hands even be allowed to hoist our national flag? We call this country “Bharat Mata,” and this is how we treat our women. Doesn’t that say everything about our values?

Independence cannot only be about pride. If freedom must mean anything, it must begin with the safety of our women. Until then, “Happy Independence Day” will always taste of blood.

Note: This piece was written on August 15, 2024, during the 78th Independence Day celebrations.