60th Anniversary of Indian Independence

Namaste,

On this the 60th anniversary of Indian Independence, please accept my warmest greetings.

On 12 March 1930, at the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat, 79 men went for a walk. For 23 days they marched, covering four districts, 48 villages, and 400 kilometres. On the way they picked up thousands of other ordinary people, animated by a cause so much bigger than themselves. Then, on 6 April, by the sea at the coastal village of Dandi, a thin, bald elderly figure picked up a handful of salty earth and said, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." That man, was M.K.Gandhi, attorney-at-law.

The empire shook alright. The purpose of Gandhi's march was to protest the oppressive and unfair salt tax, and across the country people joined the battle. They made their own salt. They bought illegal salt. That year, 60,000 Indians were arrested during these protests. The Salt Law was not repealed. And yet, "the first stage in ... the final struggle of freedom," as Gandhi described it, had made an impact.

The effect of this impact was made clear on August 15th 1947, when Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, stood on top of India's symbolism of freedom, the Red Fort and uttered those immortal lines "At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India shall awake to a life and freedom".

The story of our freedom struggle is not just encompassed by a Gandhi or a Nehru. It consists of millions of people like, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Ramprasad Bismil, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad, Sarojini Naidu, Kasturbha Gandhi. We as children have continuously been told tales, on the great achievements of our freedom fighters, tales that literally send shivers down our spine. Many a time I ask myself, what would force these people to give up their comforts, and enter into police records as terrorists, as they were known in their time. Well the answer is they fought, because they wanted to be the masters of their own destiny. They wanted to be the architects of India's rise. They wanted to bask in its successes, and accept responsibilities for the nation's failures. To that end, we are eternally indebted to them.

Let us ask ourselves, where have we come in the past 60 years? If we were travel back in time, and pick up a few freedom fighters, bring them back to the present, what would they think? Would they be proud of what they fought for? Or, would they go off on another walk?

India, and we as Indians have made tremendous leaps, over the past 60 years. Some of those leaps have been into the future, and sadly some have been backwards. Per-capita, we produce more millionaires than anywhere else in the world. However, we are also home to the largest slum in Asia. Our institutions of excellence, the IITs, IIMs, BITS are now more than just colleges, they are brand names. On the other hand, we have the world largest number of illiterates. Our economic boom in the recent 17 years is there for everyone to see. We are the fastest growing democratic nation on earth. However, we are consistently ranked in the lower half of the UN Development Index.

For far too long now, we have been stripped of our economic freedom, and our personal freedoms, yet we have barely resisted. In some parts of the country, we treat our own brethren worse than the British Raj. Yet inspite of this, we routinely do not protest. We just blame the government, as if they descended from the sky. Remember, we voted these governments to power, and we are just as much to blame for it. In our 60 years, we have achieved a lot, yet we have made many mistakes. Indeed some may say we are playing catch-up. I agree. 43 years of misguided economic policy cannot be fixed in 17 years of relative economic freedom. Likewise, decades of draconian limits on freedom of expression, cannot be fixed in a short term. Long term solutions are needed. A vibrant leadership is needed. Swami Vivekananda once said "Give me 100 young men and I will change the face of this nation". For the sake of reality let's put that figure to 10 million in current terms. Can we find 10 million such men? Are we willing to sacrifice, if the we once again want to be the masters of our own destiny? Can we fight for a cause so much bigger than ourselves? These questions must be answered by our own minds and hearts, and then we must do what we must, to paraphrase Qui Gon Jinn from Star Wars episode 1

In finishing, India stands on the verge of a rare moment in history. As we begin our 61st year of independence, let us remind ourselves that we have around 250-300 million people between the ages of 15-35. That includes, many of you as well. This population is more than ten times the entire population of Australia and comparable with the population of the United States. Which power on earth can stop us if we all decide to achieve to the best of our abilities? Why can't we as Gurukanth Desai says "Reach the top"? We can get rid of the tag of "developing nation" and replace it with the words of "developed superpower".

President John F Kennedy once remarked "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". That is precisely what I intend to do.

Jai Hind!!