When we Indians fought the first freedom struggle in the able leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, the British Government became bound to render us Independence in the year 1947. Now, to avail the outcome of independence we the citizens of India gave ourselves The Constitution.
The Fundamental rights charter of the Constitution provided us the basic rights constituting the Right to Equality, Right to Freedom, Right against Exploitation, Right to Freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational Rights and Right to Constitutional Remedies.
Out of these, Right to Freedom, which has been provided in Article 19 is our concern. It guarantees us the right to freedom of speech and expression. But practically we have attained a time when this freedom has been openly raped in broad daylight. And the root cause of this is corruption.
We beat the drum in the whole world that India is the world’s largest functioning democracy. But virtually the public servants are still masters and citizens are still servants. For every tiny cause, citizens of this great country have to flatter and bribe the politicians in power, the bureaucrats, the police and every other limb of the government. There may be some rare exemptions but in most cases this has become the accepted tradition.
When India is transient through such an ill-fated difficult time, the manifestation of a non-violentist crusader Anna Hazare has knocked the conscience door of every aware citizen who is victim of this autocracy. Hazare wants the Government to enact the Lokpal Bill. He claims that it will effectively deter corruption and redress grievances of the citizens. If ratified, the bill would create an independent ombudsman body similar to the Election Commission of India called the Lokpal, the protector of people. The Lokpal would be empowered to register and investigate complaints of corruption against politicians and bureaucrats without prior government approval. This movement of Anna has gained countrywide support against the tyrannical central Govt and this struggle has been termed as the second freedom struggle.
May it be the recent struggle of Anna or any other massive agitation after Independence, a second freedom struggle is exceedingly desired to protect the innocent citizens from the wrath of the oppressive govt.
We need a second freedom struggle because although the first freedom struggle made us free from the shackles of the British rule, the real state of freedom has not been achieved.
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