On August 15, 1997, India celebrated its golden jubilee of Independence. In the capital city of New Delhi, organizers prepared lavish ceremonies to commemorate the occasion, beginning with a midnight program broadcast from the Central Hall of Parliament that reenacted prominent scenes from the freedom struggle and featured A-list vocals from Lata Mangeshkar and Bhimsen Joshi alongside audio recordings of founding figures such as M. K. Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Subhas Chandra Bose. In the afternoon, tens of thousands of spectators thronging the city's broad avenues near the historic Red Fort were treated to a flyover by the Indian Air Force that showcased its newly acquired Russian Sukhoi Su-30 fighter jets streaking across the sky with tri-colored contrails matching the Indian national flag streaming in their wake. Shortly thereafter, Prime Minister I. K. Gujral addressed the nation. His speech paid tribute to India's diverse mosaic of languages and cultures, extolled its commitment to secular values, and pledged to uphold its democratic traditions. As dusk fell, fireworks lit up the night sky as patriotic hymns hummed from loudspeakers late into the evening.

In the southernmost state of Tamil Nadu, Dalit activists sought to capture national attention with a radically different program. In the preceding weeks, Thol. Thirumavalavan, the firebrand leader of the state's largest Dalit movement, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal (Liberation Panthers)—also known as the Dalit Panther Iyakkam (DPI; Dalit Panther Movement)—dispatched postcards to his deputies that praised their “successful uprising” in Chennai the previous week. On July 23rd, the DPI had conducted a massive procession that brought traffic in the state capital to a standstill.