Letters | India’s colourful Republic Day

I watched India’s Republic Day celebrations last week and I was most impressed and amazed. What a fantastic show the world’s most populous nation and the world’s largest democracy put on for all the world to see to mark its 77th Republic Day. Thousands of people in their colourful traditional attire lined the main street of New Delhi, proudly waving the national flag, singing and dancing and throwing flowers at a never-ending procession of brightly decked floats showing off the rich, diverse culture of a proud nation in a spirit of national unity on this auspicious day.

India has two national days to mark its independence from British rule: Independence Day, which is in August and celebrates its overthrow of its colonial master, imperial Britain, and Republic Day to mark its sovereign state as a free democratic republic. As I watched the grand parade of colourful floats, I couldn’t help but think of my own country. Why don’t we celebrate our democracy like India?

Apartheid was an abhorrent evil much worse than British colonial rule. Our Freedom Day is a big farce. It has sunk the nation into depths of despair as the criminal world and greedy, politically connected corrupt have taken over the country and a free rein to the country’s wealth.

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As bad as it may seem, many believe that democracy did not improve their lives and even long for the apartheid days. How different we are from India!

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