Inheritance is the thread of human civilisation. After World War II, Indians inherited an independent country and a dream to tryst with destiny on the policies and principles of democracy, justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. Proof that these values worked was demonstrated by this young nation in combating the Emergency in late 70s. As digital-natives are getting ready to take succession of New India, fundamental duties need to be put at the center of debates and discussions.

On the eve of 73rd Republic Day, Honourable President in his address to the nation said, “….We are immensely fortunate that the Constituent Assembly which prepared the document included some of the best minds of their generation. They were the leading lights of our great Freedom Struggle…While the text of the Constitution, dealing with the details of the workings of the State, is quite long, the Preamble sums up its guiding principles – Democracy, Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. They form the bedrock on which our Republic stands. These are the values that form our collective inheritance. These values have been accorded primacy in our Constitution in the form of Fundamental Rights and Fundamental Duties of the citizens. Rights and duties are two sides of the same coin. The observance of the Fundamental Duties mentioned in the Constitution by the citizens creates the proper environment for enjoyment of Fundamental Rights…”

As the records of Constituent Assembly deliberations show, the present Constitution was supposed to be overhauled within a couple of decades of its enactment. Perhaps among the responsibilities for younger generations to fulfill, getting to know the constitution first hand is the most urgent one. Occasions like Republic Day need to be utilised by schools, colleges, Government bodies, enterprises, NGOs alike to encourage youngsters to engage in understanding democracy. Indian democracy is a beacon of hope for a divided, scared and suspicious world. This complex society has transcended caste, religion, region, gender and race in adopting democracy. Gen Z and Gen Alpha Indians need to know the proud inheritance they have. Further, genuine understanding needs to be developed regarding points made by the critics, that Indian Constitution has fundamentally ignored the cultural robustness as well as village level structures in its formulation of policies of governance.

“Every Indian, no matter where he may be living at the present time, has a duty towards this country…” These words of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose inspired the diaspora to raise 50,000+ strong Azad Hind Fauz. More than half sacrificed their life for the country, many say that history has not done enough to aptly remember their contribution to the country’s freedom. Netaji’s birth anniversary is celebrated as Parakram Divas and Prime Minister Narendra Modi rightly said that, “Every Indian is proud of his monumental contribution to our nation”. 

Post colonial history has been rewritten across the world, India’s position has been peculiar though. Rewriting has been both process and product, and is often associated with the theoretical approach toward the study of postcolonial literatures suggested by Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin in their seminal work “The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures” (1989). World over the post colonial rewriting has mainly been about canonical literature where the writer is seen as belonging to a culture on the margins of the imperial center, and the content is viewed as a western cultural production. The writers having completely adopted the colonial education system, pay homage to their western masters as well as attempt to refute their assumptions. India, though having very rich heritage of original texts of all kinds, seems to have followed the similar methodology so far as other parts of the world. Perhaps, the rewriting needs to happen again by completely abandoning the colonial overhang. A caution many countries have started to take.

The book “Promises to Keep” talks about extraordinary feat of Indian slaves on the Island nation of Mauritius where “The Bissoondoyal movement was breathtaking in what is encompassed in relation to the very limited resources that it had: it embraced social reform, political, economic and social emancipation, cultural revival and education both of the individual and of the people.” Yet, the author says it is not to be seen as a work of history.

Another important factor in rewriting biases is induced by the colonial mindset of normative and source-oriented mindset. The official versions of history that exist in the colonial archives often do not account for the versions of the victims of history, including women and natives. This has been the main issue in South Africa, where a Britisher by the name of Guy Butler played a key role in establishing the National English Literary Museum (NELM) and a reports says, “Given this indication of the inherent ideological power of the archive, and given that in previously colonized countries colonial rule was often asserted through assiduous record keeping, it becomes necessary to investigate critically the action of founding, adding to, or engaging with ‘archive’ in the way that Butler was consciously doing in the 1970s.”

On the 125th birth anniversary, questions regarding Netaji’s end days, whether they were in Taiwan or Siberia, are being asked again, and archives of India, Taiwan, Japan, UK, America and Russia need to be cautiously explored to find out the truth.