It was the night of August 8/9, 1942, some 84 years ago. Mahatma Gandhi and several of our freedom fighters had assembled in Bombay. They had just one goal in mind: Freedom! India had been enslaved under colonial rule since 1757, and it was high time to break free! Gandhi's call was clear, loud and unequivocal.

On August 8, 1942, at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee, he introduced the resolution to start a 'Quit India Movement.' The resolution was unanimously passed at that historic meeting. Later, he delivered a fiery speech at Gowalia Tank Maidan (now known as 'August Kranti Maidan'), which marked the launch of the Quit India Movement. He said, "There is a mantra, a short one that I give you. You imprint it in your heart and let every breath of yours give an expression to it. The mantra is 'do or die.' We shall either be free or die in the attempt."

The next day, on August 9, the 'kranti' had begun; thousands were out on the streets vociferously demanding that the British should leave India immediately and unconditionally! Most of the leaders, who belonged to all strata of society, were arrested. They did not relent. Their struggle, with immense sacrifices, continued till India attained her freedom on August 15, 1947! Today, however, it is freedom struggle 2026!

India was 'to awake to freedom,' with the clock striking the midnight hour on August 14-15, 1947. The Constituent Assembly to whom power was to be transferred began its session at 11 pm on August 14. After an address by the President, Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister, made his now immortal 'Tryst with Destiny' speech.

He called upon the members to take a solemn pledge to serve India and her people. "Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity." Powerful, meaningful words from a visionary statesman! The reality today is freedom struggle 2026!

Gen Z and even sections of Gen Alpha are today out on the streets demanding an end to corruption (e.g., the NEET paper leaks), for greater transparency and accountability at all levels. The Cockroach Janata Party, led by Abhijeet, took the nation by storm at Jantar Mantar and elsewhere. It is evident that the youth of our country are not going to take things lying down anymore.

Corruption has to be addressed at every level: demonetisation, electoral bonds, the PM Cares fund, and now the E20 (The E20 Janata Party is on the rise). More questions will be asked. Where did the RSS and BJP get the enormous amounts of money to put up palatial buildings everywhere? If the RSS is not a registered body, how do they have access to a mind-boggling amount of money? What about the crony capitalist friends who profiteer at the cost of the poor and by looting the country? What about electoral malpractices: the manipulation of the EVMs and the meticulous disenfranchisement, through SIR, of thousands of legitimate citizens everywhere.

When they had their peaceful 'March to Parliament' on July 20, the youth were tear-gassed, baton-charged, beaten, and pellet guns were used against them. Several were injured. Protests spontaneously erupted all over the country. In Ahmedabad and in other parts of Gujarat, groups of students/youth walked together, singing as though they were on a picnic, shouting slogans like "Modi hatao! Desh Bachao!" In Jharkhand, youth are still on a fast. There is no relenting as the youth of India arise and shout "Azadi! Azadi!" Speak up now! We will be heard! Stand up now! No more silence. It is freedom struggle 2026!

A few days ago, a District court acquitted a controversial politician in a sexual harassment case filed three years ago by a group of female athletes. Six female wrestlers had accused Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh of sexually harassing them while he was the head of the Wrestling Federation of India. He had denied the allegations.

Singh, a former MP from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), wields considerable influence in Uttar Pradesh, India's most politically crucial state. The allegations against him made global headlines in 2023, especially after police detained the wrestlers as they tried to march to India's new parliament building in Delhi. For Vinesh Phogat and her co-wrestlers, the struggle is not yet over. Despite having to pay a heavy price, they are determined not to give up. For our women wrestlers, it is freedom struggle 2026!

In the latest 2026 Environmental Performance Index, India is ranked 176 out of 177 countries! What a terrible shame. The effects of climate change have wreaked havoc on the country. At the receiving end are the poor and the marginalised who suffer very much. Government projects (like the auctioning of coal blocks) favour their crony capitalist friends, providing them with a license to loot, plunder and rape the environment; the continued use of fossil fuels is a case in point. The environment is in a shambles!

The destruction of precious forest lands and biodiversity, to cater to so-called 'development' projects, contributes immensely to the climatic changes one experiences today. Sections of the corporate sector, and particularly the mining mafia, have no qualms about depleting precious natural resources, driven solely by profiteering. The Adani-owned 'Greater Nicobar Project' is a terrible disaster in the making. For those who care for our common home, it is freedom struggle 2026!

In the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2026, India is ranked 102 out of 123 countries, with a level of hunger classified as "serious." Millions in our country still live below the poverty line and suffer from want, hunger, deprivation and without daily access to roti, kapda aur makaan. The country still does not have any official relevant, reliable, updated data concerning poverty. There are at least five different estimates of the number of poor people in India. Millions want to break away from the shackles of poverty. It is for them, the freedom struggle 2026!

India today yearns for freedom! For every citizen to live in dignity and equity, in harmony and in peace, in truth and in justice, in acceptance of the other and in the celebration of pluralism. To preserve, protect and promote Constitutional values, the democratic ethos, the right to dissent, freedom of speech and the secular fabric of the nation. Freedom from untruth, deceit, lies and 'feku-isms.' Freedom from manipulated, selective and biased history. Freedom from hate and violence, from rape and killing, from extortion and corruption, from uniformity and monoculturalism, from authoritarianism and subjugation.

Freedom from the D-Gang of this regime (demolition, discrimination, division, demonisation, denigration, delisting, delimitation, dada-giri). Freedom for all: the Adivasis, Dalits and OBCs, for the minorities and the marginalised, for women and the other Genders, for the small farmers and the indigenous coastal people, for the casual labourers and the migrant workers, for the excluded and the exploited. They all demand the freedom to be fearless and transparent citizens of our beloved land! As India yearns for that total freedom, we pray in the words of Tagore, from his 'Gitanjali,' "into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake. It is for all, freedom struggle 2026!

In 2007, Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote this timeless poem:
Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation, oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!

How true of India today! Hope, however, never dies for we the people of India; it is 'freedom struggle 2026!'