On the eve of the 80th Independence Day, the scenes dotting the Indian landscape are more evocative of the pre-Independence era. The Hindutva propaganda machinery perpetually likes to stoke the images of Indira Gandhi's Emergency, even though its declaration was warranted by their actions. However, the current situation seems to be comparable and, in some sense, far worse than British Rule.

The British, as the schoolbooks used to teach, conquered India employing the "Divide and Rule" policy. It raises the question of which rule the incumbents are using. Hindutva rule has been only a persistent chorus of "hum" (us) and "woh" (them)—incessant speeches filled with vitriol, aimed at burning the country.

The British used to put independence fighters behind bars, but at the same time they used to listen to the demands when people sat in dharnas or fasted. Today, people rot in jails under draconian acts like the UAPA. The Congress was far better: the top brass was relatively incorruptible, though they do have blunders to their name; but the same cannot be said for the BJP.

The British frequently prosecuted freedom fighters under sweeping laws; today's governments appear equally willing to invoke expansive criminal provisions against dissent. Our current government doesn't know anything better. Sustained by the lapdog media, they manufacture rank stories intended to glorify themselves and denigrate others.

The British are claimed to have stripped India of its wealth. Jawaharlal Nehru is accused of selling Indian territory to China even though, when British Rule ended in 1947, India inherited undemarcated borders. While the McMahon Line defined the eastern boundary, the frontier in the western Ladakh/Aksai Chin sector lacked clear treaties or official demarcation, and China later occupied it through hidden infrastructure development and military action. What does the current government do? The nation's wealth is concentrated in just two hands. Large tracts of land are bequeathed to corporations while the inhabitants are driven out and ecologies destroyed.

The British censored newspapers, but they never possessed a propaganda ecosystem as sophisticated and all-pervasive as the one that now dominates television studios, social media and digital platforms. The current system is comparable to that of the Nazis, where every failure was wrapped in fabricated triumph, every criticism was branded anti-national, and every question dismissed as an intrigue.

The freedom struggle was fought to render power to the people. It envisioned a rule founded on liberty, equality, fraternity and justice. The tragedy is that those who invoke the freedom movement most vehemently are the ones who worked against it and are the least willing to tolerate the freedoms it secured. Patriotism has been reduced to slogans and a highly polarising version of Vande Mataram.

The recent attack on the students endorsed by the government was more reminiscent of the Jallianwala Massacre by Dyer. The police, which is directly under the Home Ministry, came prepared with pellet guns, spiked lathis, a lack of identification and non-police personnel. It is impossible to believe that the Ministry was not part of the planning. If the government has come down to this, what Independence Day do we celebrate?