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Promises of the past, predicaments of the present: reflections on 75th anniversary of India’s independence
The great irony of Modi’s campaign to appropriate our independence celebrations is that his right-wing Hindutva politics had nothing to do with the actual struggle against colonialism — progressives must reclaim our heritage, argues BHABANI SHANKAR NAYAK

TODAY Indians will unfurl the tricolour to celebrate the 75th anniversary of our independence. The Indian freedom struggle has not only shaped India as a modern constitutional democracy but also shaped the nature of our state, society and citizenship.  

The anti-colonial, anti-capitalist, anti-feudal and anti-imperialist struggle were the four pillars of India’s cause — they laid the foundation of our sovereign nation state and created a promise to pursue a society based on socialist, scientific and secular values, to ensure egalitarian citizenship rights without any form of discrimination.  

These inalienable values are central to the unity, integrity, peace, prosperity and progress of India as a multicultural society and secular state.  

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