Does independence mean freedom?

"As India celebrates the 71st anniversary of Independence, a blasphemous question is worth asking: are the people of India freer today than they were on August 14, 1947?" asked RS Kapoor. Elected politicians do not dare to question party leaders. "Is it possible for a Congress leader to challenge the supremacy of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi today? Or, for the matter, for a Bharatiya Janata Party leader to question the decisions, let alone the leadership, of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah?" The fact is that the Gandhi family is the glue that holds the Congress together. Without the family all leaders are equal and will fight for supremacy, resulting in a breakup of the party, as may happen to the DMK in Tamil Nadu after the death of Karunanidhi. Secondly, only the Gandhis have name recognition throughout India. P Chidambaram is recognized in Tamil Nadu, Digvijaya Singh in Madhya Pradesh and Yogi Adityanath in Uttar Pradesh. In the last municipal elections in Delhi the BJP replaced all its sitting councillors with new candidates to rid itself of allegations of corruption. Thus, all BJP politicians are terrified of Modi and Shah because they hold absolute power to destroy anyone's political career. "In a similar fashion, business tycoons have been tamed. Once upon a time there was an industrialist called Jamnalal Bajaj (1889-1942)", who "participated in, among others, the non-cooperation movement in 1921, the boycott of Simon Commission in 1929, the salt satyagraha in 1930, and the anti-war campaign in 1941". Freedom of expression and freedom of action are severely curtailed today. "In the name of helping the poor, wealth creators -- be they farmers, business magnates and entrepreneurs -- were tied up in red tape, shackled by a zillion controls and regulations, and often subjected to extortion by politicians and bureaucrats." It is the lack of quality education for a majority of people that is holding India back, wrote Prof D Kapur. "At the most elemental level, the lack of decent education for most Indians has meant that they have struggled to realise their potential as citizens in Indian society and weakened the most important ladder of social mobility." For Bill Gates, "the biggest disappointment when it comes to India is its education system". But, not just education, standards of services are very poor in India, wrote R Kher and P Gupta. "Anyone who has paid for services in India knows the pain of getting work out of service providers with no benchmarks for their work." The primary responsibility of the state must be the security of its citizens but it is failing miserably in that. So, are we less free than before independence? The British came from far away and allowed people to let out steam as long as they could plunder our wealth for their nation. The present lot are plundering our country for personal enrichment and power. They cannot allow any freedom. Happy Independence Day to all Indians.