The Golden Triangle: 79 Years of Broken Promises

Seventy-nine years have passed since the midnight of 15th August 1947, when India awoke to life and freedom. Yet, in 2025, I find myself questioning – what kind of freedom do we truly have?

Our Constitution promises us liberty, equality, and justice, but reality writes a different script entirely. Teachers who ask for fair exams end up in jail cells instead of classrooms. Hospital corridors echo with fathers' sobs as they demand safety for daughters who will never come home. The Smart Cities project, which was supposed to help everyone, is just knocking down poor people's homes to build fancy buildings for the rich. A Dalit man still gets beaten for entering a temple, proving that Article 17 exists only on paper. Someone in Bangalore gets shouted at for not speaking Kannada. Journalists who once fearlessly reported the truth now think twice before writing, afraid of what might happen next. The government cuts off the internet whenever people try to raise their voices. When freedom fighters sacrificed everything for "Purna Swaraj" did they imagine their children would still be fighting for scraps of dignity?

The Golden Triangle: Promise and Betrayal

The "Golden Triangle" of Articles 14, 19, and 21 represents the constitutional bedrock of Indian democracy, establishing equality, freedom of expression, and the right to life as non-negotiable principles. These carefully crafted legal safeguards were meant to be the pillars upon which modern India would stand tall. Yet when they encounter the realities of India, they reveal painful gaps between constitutional promise and lived experience.

The Equality Mirage

Article 14: What it promises:  It guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of laws to every person, prohibiting arbitrary state actions and discrimination based on religion, race, caste, sex, or place of birth. It establishes fairness and equality in legal treatment across the country.

Everyone is equal before the law. Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, upper caste or Dalit, Hindu or Muslim - the law should treat everyone the same way.

What actually happens: In July 2024, three young men in Uttar Pradesh forced a 15-year-old Dalit boy to drink urine. In November 2024, a case was registered against a priest and temple officials for allegedly abusing and beating a Dalit man after he could not offer money as dakshina. This happens in today's India, not in some distant past. While a rich person's son can get away with murder, a poor man goes to jail for stealing bread. 
Article 14 says we're all equal, but money and caste still decide who gets justice and who gets beaten up.

The Shrinking Space of Expression

Article 19: What it promises: It ensures several freedoms, including freedom of speech and expression, freedom to assemble peacefully, freedom to move freely throughout India, freedom to reside in any part of the country, and freedom to practice any profession or occupation. 

We can speak our mind. We can gather with others. We can move anywhere in India. We can protest if the government does something wrong.

What actually happens: When people try to organise, talk to each other, or just get information online, governments cut off their internet connection. In 2023, India experienced 116 internet shutdowns, which is almost half of the total worldwide shutdowns (283 in total). Governments routinely turn off the internet when people protest, whether it's in Kashmir, Manipur, during farmer protests, or student demonstrations.

While the Indian Constitution protects linguistic diversity, language-based conflicts have emerged periodically in different states. In 2025, India continued to experience language-related conflicts, particularly in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka. Two women in Thane district got beaten up for saying "excuse me" instead of speaking Marathi. A security guard in Mumbai was thrashed by MNS workers for not knowing Marathi. A couple refused to pay a delivery boy because he wouldn't speak Marathi. A shop owner got assaulted just for not speaking the "right" language. Try speaking Hindi in Bangalore, auto drivers will refuse to take you. The Constitution says you can move and work anywhere in India, but language bullies say otherwise.  

Even though Article 19 promises us the right to speak freely, meet peacefully, and protest when something is wrong, what happens in real life is often different. In 2025, during the SSC Phase 13 exam, chaos marked by cancellations, technical glitches, and unfair exam centre allotments, thousands of students and many teachers gathered peacefully in Delhi to demand fairness. They hoped their voices would be heard, but police stopped the protests, detained some, and reportedly used force. This shows how, in India, peaceful voices are often silenced, making our right to speak and protest feel weaker.

Most dangerous of all is what happens to journalists who still try to tell the truth. Three have already been killed in 2025 - Mukesh Chandrakar was beaten to death with metal rods and thrown in a septic tank in January because he was investigating corruption, Raghvendra Bajpai was shot dead on March 8th for the same reason, and a Haryana journalist was killed in a targeted shooting in May. Such violence shows how a key pillar of our democracy, i.e., the freedom to speak and share facts without fear, is under threat, making it dangerous for those who dare to tell the truth. 

The gap between what Article 19 promises and what citizens actually experience reveals a troubling reality. Our constitutional rights are increasingly becoming empty words while the space for genuine democratic expression continues to shrink.

Life without Dignity

Article 21: What it promises: It protects the right to life and personal liberty, stating that no person shall be deprived of these rights except according to the procedure established by law. The Supreme Court has expanded Article 21 to encompass the right to live with dignity, the right to livelihood, the right to a clean environment, and the right to healthcare and education. 

What actually happens:  Every day in India, women's lives and dignity are shattered by violence. Rape, acid attacks, and harassment continue to stalk women everywhere, from city streets to villages. These crimes strip women of their right to live safely and with respect. One heartbreaking example is the RG Kar Medical College case, where a young doctor was raped and murdered.  Her parents, fighting for justice, faced brutal police action themselves during a protest march in Kolkata, 2025. This case starkly shows how women’s rights and their families’ rights to life with dignity remain under threat.

Other violent incidents include the ongoing rise in brutal attacks against Dalit and Adivasi women across India. For example, in 2025, a minor Dalit girl in Muzaffarpur was found with nearly 20 knife wounds after being raped.  In 2024, a 20-year-old Dalit nurse was raped by a doctor in a private hospital in Uttar Pradesh. Statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau reveal a 45% surge in reported rapes against Dalit women from 2015 to 2020, with an average of 10 such incidents reported daily across India. This alarming figure highlights the severe and ongoing threat of sexual violence faced by Dalit women, despite constitutional protections. Many cases go unreported due to stigma and fear, making the true extent of this violence even worse. 

Under India’s Smart Cities Mission, many urban renewal projects have led to the forced eviction of slum dwellers, migrant workers, and other marginalised communities without adequate compensation or rehabilitation, violating Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life with dignity, shelter, and livelihood. Many families have been left homeless and jobless. The administration often demolishes slums without following due process of law in order to seize the land in the name of beautification and development.

Between 2017 and 2019, an estimated 22,630 people were evicted due to infrastructure development under the Smart Cities Mission across various cities. Tamil Nadu witnessed the eviction of 552 families from Masjid Colony in 2019 for water body restoration linked to smart city projects. Although some rehabilitation housing was provided on the city outskirts, many resettled families suffered from a lack of access to basic services and livelihoods. 

In 2025, the right to live with dignity promised by Article 21 is still hard to achieve because of violence, displacement, neglect, and harm to the environment. People whose rights are taken away are fighting not just to survive, but to live with the respect, safety, and humanity that Article 21 promises. 

The Unfinished Struggle

When our freedom fighters sacrificed everything for "Purna Swaraj” did they imagine their children would still be fighting for scraps of dignity? When they dreamed of free India, did they envision an India where freedom comes with terms and conditions?

Every 15th August, we hoist the tricolour and sing the national anthem. We remember 1947, we celebrate independence, and we honour our martyrs. But as the last note of "Jana Gana Mana" fades and the flag ceremonies end, what happens? We go back to the same broken system the next day.

Maybe freedom was never meant to be won once and kept forever. Perhaps every generation has to fight for it again. Maybe that's our job now. 

The Constitution gave us the tools. The freedom fighters showed us the way. But seventy-nine years after independence, the “Golden Triangle” of our constitution remain more hope than reality. So here's the question: Will we be the generation that finally makes constitutional promises come true? Or will our children ask the same questions we're asking today? 

Jai Hind!

Source: 

https://theconversation.com/indians-promised-benefits-of-100-smart-cities-but-the-poor-are-sidelined-again-107787 

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/maharashtra-government-officers-marathi-language-communication-order-bjp-devendra-fadnavis-2674379-2025-02-04

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/dalit-man-allegedly-abused-by-priest-and-temple-officials-over-lack-of-dakshina/articleshow/114956944.cms 

https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2025/country-chapters/india#5dfeca     
https://scroll.in/latest/1067903/india-recorded-highest-internet-shutdowns-globally-for-sixth-straight-year-in-2023-report 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c93kwqvw3jxo 

https://testbook.com/blog/ssc-protest/ 

https://www.ifj.org/media-centre/news/detail/category/press-releases/article/india-haryana-journalist-killed-in-targeted-shooting https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/west-bengal/one-year-of-rg-kar-incident-secretariat-march-police-baton-charge-protestors-suvendu-alleges-victims-parents-bjp-mlas-injured/article69913028.ece 

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/bihar/11-year-old-dalit-rape-victim-dies-of-injuries-in-patna/article69645930.ece 

https://cjp.org.in/january-2024-harrowing-incidents-of-violence-against-dalit-women/ 

https://www.thecitizen.in/index.php/en/NewsDetail/index/9/19670/Why-the-Smart-Cities-Mission-Needs-an-Overhaul---