In 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of independent India, extended the nation’s “tryst with destiny.” Marking the culmination of the long, fraught history of British colonisation, Nehru’s speech delivered at the “stroke of midnight hour” emphasised his vision for the proliferation of the newly “free” nation. His conception of post-colonial India came with a promise for freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman. (Nehru, 1947) After the long-drawn struggle for decolonising and reclaiming the Indian identity, Nehru’s speech painted a utopian vision of what the future held for the diverse collective of Indians. The reality, however, was far from an equitable society