Today we are celebrating our 80th
Independence Day. This is the day that invariably reminds us of the sacrifices made and the sufferings that the freedom fighters endured to liberate the nation
from the clutches of British rule. There is, however, nothing new to be said
about them, just as there is nothing new to be said about the Himalayas, the
river Ganges, or the moon. The years pass off their way. But it is to the same
Himalayas, the same Ganges, the same moon that the tired Indians turn forever
in unwearied homage. And so is it with our freedom fighters, for no one can
confine their radiant and resplendent sacrifices to a day or
once-is-more-than-necessary.
When we think of those unsung
heroes, the first to come to mind are the leaders who have fanned the passion
for freedom among the innocent Indians of different hues and stirred their
emotions to march against foreign rule – march for liberty and, in its course, be
prepared to face lathi charges and even bullets if need be. It is the story of
these leaders – Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru, Jagadesh Bose, Babu
Rajendraprasad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel – that deserves to be recalled, at
least on the day of celebrating our Independence Day, for man is known to be a
creature of self-delusion and forgetfulness. Hence it becomes necessary for the
story of these leaders of the freedom fight to be retold rather than just told.
And remain grateful to them.
Suffice it here to remind
ourselves what Albert Einstein said of Gandhi: “… generations yet unborn will
wonder whether such a one as Gandhi did in truth walk the earth in flesh and
blood”, and salute his leadership that led oppressed people from virtual
slavery to actual salvation with a method that is unique – Ahimsa marg,
the passive way of resistance. Ahimsa, for Gandhi, “is not simply
non-injury to others – it means love for all that lives”. And he also said, “I
love the enemy, but I fight evil”. Let us attempt to act the way he did, taking
inspiration from the sublime words of Longfellow: “act, act, in the living present;
/ heart within and God overhead.”
Pandit Nehru, who took the reins of governance of free India, comes to mind next. He built such institutions which are required to sustain democracy in the initial years of our evolution as an independent nation and put in practice healthy democratic traditions that made India the most stable democracy amongst the countries that emerged from colonial rule during the forties.
There
are many such occasions in which one could well visualise his steadfast
commitment to democratic principles. One such incident commands our immediate
attention: While intervening in the debate on the resolution moved by Morarji
Desai on purity and strengthening the organization at the Congress Subjects
Committee meeting held at Satyamurty Nagar, Avadi on January 20, 1955, and the
suggestion made by Algurai Shastri that the resolution should not publicize the
malpractices that had crept into the Congress since self-criticism in public
simply would put the noose round the necks of Congressmen which other people
might use to drag them with, Jawaharlal Nehru said: “I have been president of
the Congress and I know from personal experience that there is a lot of
impurity in the Congress and even some of the biggest Congressmen are a party
to it. Why should we hide these things? Are we to live behind purdah and
wear a veil? Algurai Shastri has himself talked to me several times about these
impure trends in the Congress and expressed his regret about them. If any
member wants to suggest an amendment to the resolution, by all means he can do
it, but we must face our weaknesses and drawbacks and the impure trends that
have crept in, truthfully and honestly.”
There is another strange incident that happened in 1937 which merits every citizen’s attention. Nehru, at the height of his popularity–elected for the third time as Congress President – and unsettled by it, wrote an article titled “The Rashtrapati” in The Modern Review under the name “Chanakya”, and thus no reader at that time knew that its author was Nehru. It narrates the threats that Nehru’s popularity posed to the country thus: “Therein lies danger for Jawaharlal and for India… For it is not through Caesarism that India will attain freedom, and though she may prosper a little under a benevolent and efficient despotism, she will remain stunted and the day of the emancipation of her people will be delayed”. Such was his concern for democracy and the good of the country.
Babu Rajendraprasad, the first
President of the Republic of India, is known for his humility. History reveals
that at one of the AICC sessions, Rajendraprasad, a highly respected and
top-tier national leader, walked into the kitchen, sat down with the ground-level
volunteers and scrubbed the heavy cooking utensils and serving plates. Noticing
this, Gandhiji was so moved that he publicly praised ‘Rajen Babu’ and exhorted
other political delegates to emulate Rajen Babu’s selflessness by discarding
their cast-based or status-based inhibitions about manual work. Even after
becoming President of India, Rajendra Prasad practised this level of humility
throughout: he slashed his Presidential salary to around Rs 2500, stating that
he did not need more to survive. After stepping down from the Presidency, he,
rejecting luxurious retirement offers, chose to live out his remaining days in
a simple room at the Sadaqat Ashram in Patna.
Remembering these freedom fighters, one gets
reminded of the perennial truth – no matter rich or poor, leader or follower,
king or pauper – you will die. It is an inescapable truth. In Meditations,
Marcus Aurelius wrote to himself: “You could leave life right now. Let that
determine what you do and say and think.” Keeping death at the forefront of his
thoughts, the world’s most powerful man managed the obligations of his
position, guided by living virtuously now.
There was a Roman tradition that after every
victory, military generals were paraded in a chariot drawn by four horses
through the streets to the roars of the masses. The General was thus idolised
by his troops and the public alike. But there would be a slave in the same
chariot whose responsibility was to whisper in the General’s ear throughout the
parade, “Respice post te. Hominem te esse memento. Memento mori! – Look
behind. Remember thou art mortal. Remember you must die!” The motto behind that
whisper is so obvious.
On this historic occasion of the
80th Independence Day celebration, let us remember all those freedom
fighters who blessed us with liberty and strive to sustain it with grace and
pass it on carefully to the next generation in good shape. That is the right
homage we can pay to all those departed souls.
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