The clarion call for freedom triumphed on August 15, 1947. What followed in its wake, along the road to transfer of power, were heart-wrenching stories of inhuman cruelty. The wounds never healed but found expression in pathological prejudice which dominates the national discourse even today. We also lost a colossus who brought the Empire to its knees. Mahatma Gandhi, a beacon epitomising the values of humanism, became a victim of obscurantist forces which raise their ugly head ever so often. India became free but her soul is trapped in the existential conflict between unity and diversity. On January 26, 1950, India became a republic in which the people, not monarchs, are sovereign. That day we buried our imperial past and the people gave unto themselves a Constitution which strove to build an egalitarian, liberal democracy. But egalitarianism, even after 68 years, is a mirage. For the poor and the marginalised, equality of opportunity is a far cry. The journey of unequal opportunities starts with the poor anaemic lactating mother, deprived of nutrition, fearing that her undernourished, underweight children, may grow up stunted. They grow up sans quality schooling. Poor infrastructure and absentee teachers bedevil the system. Poverty and other factors see children drop out of school. As adults, they are either unemployed or underemployed. Life becomes a daily struggle for survival for they lack both skills and resources. For the haves, their children in private schools are empowered and become engines of growth for the nation. Economic disparities have increased. Rural poor, who comprise a majority of the 93 per cent of Indian households, earn less than Rs 21,000 a month while the richest 1 per cent own 73 per cent of the country's wealth. Inequality of opportunities impacts the exercise of fundamental rights. The poor are either silent or speechless and those who make themselves heard are not counted. Environments conducive for communal and caste violence are engineered-yet another aspect of mindsets perpetrating inequalities. This chasm makes egalitarianism a constitutional chimera. Farmers, the backbone of our agricultural economy, are facing a crisis. News of farmer indebtedness and resulting suicides are read and forgotten.