India Celebrates Independence

More than 30 students filled Sever 113 on Saturday for a discussion forum on the celebration of 50 years of India's Independence from British rule.

The forum title "Midnight's Children: 50 Years After Independence" was organized by the South Asian Association (SAA).

According to Uttam K. Tambar '00, SAA political chair and forum coordinator, the event was designed to examine the impact India's independence has had on "forgotten groups" and to understand why and how independence is celebrated.

The forum began with a panel discussion on the "Celebration of Independence in America" featuring three speakers representing different groups within the South Asian American community.

Siddiq Abdullah, president of the Pakistani Association of Boston, spoke about why South Asians in the U.S. celebrate independence.

"We celebrate to remind ourselves we exist, and that we are here," he said.

Abdullah also emphasized the need for the next generation of Indian and Pakistani Americans to "keep the candle glowing."

"Our generation kept things together. It is you we are looking up to now," Abdullah said to the students in the audience. "It is your part to decide what you do with this independence."

Imtiyaz Hussein, a member of MASALA--a South Asian gay and lesbian group--was another speaker.

Hussein's address focused on the limited status of minority groups within the South Asian American community.

"What is independence if we are excluding groups within the group 50 years later?" he said.

Hussein also drew attention to the exclusion of a South Asian gay group from an Indian Independence day parade in New York this summer.

"We don't want to have any aspect of our collective identity that may shed some bad light on us," Hussein said. "So we take the easy way out and exclude certain groups."

Vijay Prashad, a member of the Forum of Indian Leftists added another perspective to the discussion of independence.

Prashad's speech focused on the ways in which independence is celebrated in the U.S.

"I am afraid of how we're celebrating. I feel it is a false pride," Prashad said. "We are desperate for self-legitimacy in a country that is profoundly racist and has its own way of integrating us."

Prashad also discouraged celebration without considering the deeper implications of independence.

The Indian struggle for freedom still exists in the United States, he said.

In his speech, Prashad also called the Indian community in the U.S. "state-selected" for intelligence.

"We are a weapon in a class and race war in the United States and that is what we need to think about," Prashad said.

After the panel speeches, the forum attendees separated into smaller groups for three concurrent workshops discussing the "Impact of Independence." Each workshop was led by a South Asian scholar.

The three workshop topics were: the struggle in Bangladesh since 1947, the role of women in the independence movement and the social development since independence.

Many students in the audience said they felt the forum shed light on the complex issues associated with the celebration of independence.

"The panel helped jump-start our minds to look at issues from different angles," said Neil R. Lawande '99, co-president of the SAA.