Many years have passed and we still await the fruits of freedom…

Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny’, thundered Pandit Nehru, India’s first PM seven decades ago as a nation broke the shackles of colonialism to embark on the journey to realise its true worth.

The decades which followed were none too easy - but they saw exceptional leaders guiding us on the long-winding path of development, providing employment and succour to the millions and giving them hope of a new future where they would be their own masters.

The first decades after freedom saw Nehru giving a clarion call for building infrastructure including dams, factories, bridges, railways and roads, which were all so much needed in a land bled white by the British before they packed up.

Then came the Sixties and Seventies when Indira Gandhi touched the pinnacle of success with bank nationalisation and the abolition of privy purses, setting the pace for a truly democratic nation built on the firm foundations of secularism and equality.

Indira did have her dark moments though during the Emergency but her spectacular victory in the 1971 war against Pakistan to create a new Bangladesh, was enough to rank her among India’s top prime ministers.

In the years that followed, what stood out was the ‘golden phase of the Indian economy when Dr Manmohan Singh, with his financial wizardry, opened up pivotal sectors giving us the choice to pick and choose the products of our choice.

The ubiquitous Ambassadors and Marutis were soon overshadowed by a plethora of car choices and so it happened in every other sector giving us a whiff of the economic freedom we had so much longed for.

The Vajpayee years and the era of coalitions did see the veteran politician scoring a much needed victory in the Kargil war lifting Indian spirits to a new high, decades after the 1971 victory. Since 2014, we have had Narendra Modi in the PM’s kursi and now in his third term lording over the country’s destiny.

There were huge expectations when the then Gujarat CM took over with hopes riding high that he would rekindle some of the economic magic which had made his home state a success story.

But sadly, what most Indians recall of his first term- with a shudder - is Demonetisation which made millions queue up before ATMs to draw their cash with many succumbing to the vagaries of the weather.

There was also the Balakot strike which saw an Indian foray into Pakistan to avenge the Pathankot attack and it helped in no mean measure to ensure him a second term in office in 2019.

Again Indian hoped, that with the comfortable numbers Modi had in parliament, they could now look forward to structural economic reforms which would play a catalytic role in uplifting the ‘last Indian’ - those wallowing in poverty in the villages or struggling to eke out a living in the urban ‘living hells’-the many slums which dot our major cities.

And so India waited and waited and when the economic turnaround many thought would happen in his second term, did not, the nation taught the BJP a lesson to remind its leaders that they cannot be kept waiting forever for the fruits of development, which are being increasingly cornered by a few billionaires and corporate conglomerates.

Falling short of a majority, the BJP has managed to cling on to power with the help of its allies but for how long is the moot question?

Meanwhile, the finance minister entered the record books presenting her seventh straight budget but there was not much to write home about with the innovative schemes which would have brought on the smiles on the faces of the toiling middle classes and the poor, missing as usual.

The rich and powerful continue to have the last laugh even as unemployment and price rise assume menacing proportions wrecking the hopes of millions of aspiring youngsters.

We remain as optimistic as ever hoping our political masters will deliver and the golden years will happen but for how long will this wait have to continue is the perplexing question on every Indian’s mind?