Only when the suppressed and the exploited begin to assert their rights and empower themselves

It is difficult to empower people unless we address the issues concerning equality and equality of opportunities for the vast masses of people who have to struggle for their daily existence. Empowerment thus means uplifting the unprivileged and making them partners and beneficiaries of nation building activities.

Empowerment means improving the status of women and treating minorities with care and concern. Therefore, any attempt to empower people must begin from below. The heroic struggle of Mahatma Gandhi, Baba Saheb Ambedkar and Jawaharlal Nehru bring to us the examples of landmark initiatives which aimed at empowering the people of India.

Harking back to the freedom struggle we find that people under foreign rule had no means of opposing their exploitation and demanding independence and democracy for their development. A completely subjugated and disempowered people suddenly found within themselves immense strength to confront the majesty and might of the British empire.

How did that happen? We all know that by removing fear from the minds of people and infusing among them moral strength and authority, Gandhiji transformed their outlook and wielded them as a powerful weapon in the non-violent struggle for independence. In that historical context, empowerment had a connotation which derived legitimacy from the moral ethos of our society.

After almost six decades of our independence, we have made tremendous material progress and consolidated our democracy. The whole of India and, in fact, large sections of the population are now empowered to take India forward. It has now been acknowledged by the world that India is fast emerging as a major economic power determining the course of human history in a manner which gives confidence that we will get back our rightful place in the comity of nations.

The talk of empowerment makes us feel confident about our future. But we feel disheartened to see the decline of standard of behaviour in our public life. Empowerment of India thus would mean to restore the moral dimension and values to our public life.

Without morality and values, the empowered India would be devoid of depth and content. Today, when the whole world exclaims of India’s ability in diverse fields and hails its emergence as a major power in the economic and scientific arena, we need to introspect and ask ourselves if we have lived up to the ideals bequeathed to us by our freedom fighters and the founding fathers of our Constitution.

An empowered India bereft of the respect for women, values of civilised existence and morality will collapse in the face of the disaffection and discontent of those who have suffered for centuries.

Day in and day out we take pride in claiming that India has a 5000-year-old civilization. But the way the Dalits and those suppressed are being treated by the people who wield power and authority speaks volumes for the degradation of our moral structure and civilized standards.

Dr B R Ambedkar, the principal architect of the Constitution, had said that political equality devoid of economic and social equality will bring about contradictions in our democratic set-up which if not rectified will lead to its doom.

In the dark cloud of inequality and social injustice the silver lining represented by the assertion of the hitherto suppressed and exploited sections for their rights inspire confidence for their future empowerment. Their struggle for empowerment represents empowerment of India.

As the struggle gains momentum and gets accentuated, there is bound to be reluctance and resistance on the part of the high and mighty to accept their upward rise.

The killing of Dalits, their exploitation and the brutality they face is a negation of the empowered India.

An empowered India would obviously believe in Sarvodaya which Mahatma Gandhi so passionately advocated and dedicated his life to realize it in practice.

In the age of liberalization and globalization and in the age of market-driven development, we need to be mindful of the basic existence of the ordinary people who are constantly facing the challenges to safeguard their very survival.

While celebrating the achievements of our Independence for the last 60 years we must question ourselves to find answers for the empowerment of the people who are in the margins of the society.

Any attempt in that direction is an attempt not only for the empowerment of India but also enlightenment of those people who are in important position determining the destiny of this country.

If the poor and under-privileged are empowered it will inevitably lead to empowerment of India.

This is the message that our freedom-fighters gave to the posterity and the present generation can neglect it at its own peril.

We can see an empowered India stretching its arms to embrace new ideas and disseminate the ideals of our civilization and culture only if corruption in public life and the grinding poverty of the masses is eradicated and the fortunate few realize their responsibility to redress their grievances in a meaningful and substantive manner.

A movement for an empowered India will have to inevitably address these issues.

While projecting an optimistic picture of India, we must harness our resources to redress the basic social and economic problems of people to make India empowered.