Address by the President of India on the eve of the Republic Day of India 2015
Press Information Bureau
Government of India
President’s Secretariat
25-January-2015 19:20 IST
Address by the President of India on the eve of the Republic Day of India 2015
My Fellow Citizens:
1. On the eve of the 66th Republic Day, I extend warm greetings to all
of you in India and abroad. I convey my special greetings to members of
our Armed Forces, Paramilitary Forces and Internal Security Forces.
2. Twenty Sixth January holds an
everlasting place in our national memory because it is the day when
modern India was born. Under Mahatma Gandhi’s moral and political
leadership, the National Congress passed the Purna Swaraj resolution
demanding complete independence from British rule in December 1929.
Gandhiji organized nationwide celebrations on 26 January 1930 as
Independence Day. From then on, the Nation took a pledge on this day
every year to carry on the freedom struggle till we attained it.
3. Exactly twenty years later, in 1950, we adopted our charter of
modernity, the Constitution. Tragically, Gandhiji had been martyred two
years before, but the framework of a Constitution that has made India a
role model for today’s world was constructed out of his philosophy. Its
essence lay in four principles: democracy; freedom of faith; gender
equality; and an economic upsurge for those trapped in the curse of dire
poverty. These were made Constitutional obligations. Gandhiji’s
talisman for the country’s rulers was simple and powerful and I quote:
“Whenever you are in doubt…recall the face of the poorest and the
weakest man whom you may have seen and ask yourself…will it lead to
swaraj for the hungry and spiritually starving millions?” (unquote). Our
resolve to eliminate poverty through inclusive development has to be a
step in that direction.
Fellow Citizens:
4. The past year has been remarkable in many ways. Particularly because,
after three decades the people have voted to power a single party with a
majority for a stable government, and in the process freed the
country’s governance from the compulsions of coalition politics. Outcome
of these Elections has given the mandate to the elected government to
fulfill its commitment to the people by using its majority for
formulating policies and making laws to implement those policies. The
voter has played her part; it is now up to those who have been elected
to honour this trust. It was a vote for clean, efficient, effective,
gender-sensitive, transparent, accountable and citizen-friendly
governance.
Fellow Citizens:
5. There can be no governance without a functioning legislature. The
legislature reflects the will of the people. It is the platform where
progressive legislation using civilized dialogue must create delivery
mechanisms for realizing the aspirations of the people. It calls for
reconciling the differences amongst stakeholders and building a
consensus for the law to be enacted. Enacting laws without discussion
impacts the law-making role of the Parliament. It breaches the trust
reposed in it by the people. This is neither good for the democracy nor
for the policies relating to those laws.
Fellow Citizens:
6. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Subhash Chandra Bose, Bhagat
Singh, Rabindranath Tagore, Subramanya Bharati and many more – the
vocation and the approach might have been different but they all spoke
the same language of patriotism. We owe our freedom to these great
warriors of nationalism. We also salute the unsung heroes who have died
securing the liberation of Mother India. But it pains me to see that
Mother India is not respected by her own children when it comes to the
safety of women. Atrocities of rape, murders, harassment on the roads,
kidnapping and dowry deaths have made women fearful even in their own
homes. Rabindranath Tagore saw women not only as the deities of the
household fire, but also the flame of the soul itself. Where have we
failed, as parents, teachers and leaders, that our children have
forgotten all tenets of decent behaviour and respect for women? We have
enacted many legislations but, as Benjamin Franklin had once said and I
quote: “Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as
outraged as those who are” (unquote). Every Indian must take a pledge
to protect the honour of women from violence of any kind. Only a nation
that respects and empowers its women can become a global power.
Fellow Citizens:
7. The Indian Constitution is the holy book of democracy. It is a
lodestar for the socio-economic transformation of an India whose
civilization has celebrated pluralism, advocated tolerance and promoted
goodwill between diverse communities. These values, however, need to be
preserved with utmost care and vigilance. The freedom inherent in
democracy sometimes generates an unhappy by-product when political
discourse becomes a competition in hysteria that is abhorrent to our
traditional ethos. The violence of the tongue cuts and wounds people’s
hearts. Religion, said Gandhiji, is a force for unity; we cannot make it
a cause of conflict.
Fellow Citizens:
8. Much is said about India’s soft power. But the most powerful example
of India’s soft power, in an international environment where so many
countries are sinking into the morass of theocratic violence, lies in
our definition of the relationship between faith and polity. We have
always reposed our trust in faith-equality where every faith is equal
before the law and every culture blends into another to create a
positive dynamic. Wisdom of India teaches us: unity is strength,
dominance is weakness.
Fellow Citizens:
9. The multi-nation conflict has converted boundaries into bloodlines,
and turned terrorism into an industry of evil. Terrorism and violence
are seeping across our borders. While peace, non-violence and good
neighbourly intentions should remain the fundamentals of our foreign
policy, we cannot afford to be complacent about adversaries who will
stop at nothing to disrupt our progress towards a prosperous and
equitable India. We have the strength, confidence and determination to
defeat architects of this war against our people. Repeated violations of
the ceasefire along the Line of Control and terrorist attacks must get
an integrated response through incisive diplomacy and impregnable
security mechanisms. The world must join India in fighting the menace of
terrorism.
Fellow Citizens:
10. Economic progress is also a test of democracy. Year 2015 is a year
of hope. Key economic indicators provide for much optimism.
Strengthening of the external sector, move towards fiscal consolidation,
moderation in price levels, early signs of rebound in manufacturing and
record agricultural production last year augur well for our economy.
Achieving five percent plus growth rates each in the first two quarters
of 2014-15 is a healthy sign for an early reversion to the high growth
trajectory of 7-8 percent.
11. The success of a society is measured
by both survival and strengthening of its values, institutions and
instruments of governance. Our national narrative has been shaped by the
principles of its past, triumphs of today and is now ready to own the
future by powering its latent potential.
Fellow Citizens:
12. Our national ambition is to raise the quality of life of Indians by
quantum leaps and raise generations enlightened by learning, patriotism,
compassion, honesty and a sense of duty. Thomas Jefferson had said and I
quote: “Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the
only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty” (unquote). We
must strive for the highest quality in our educational institutions so
that we can take our place, within a visible future, among the knowledge
leaders of the 21st century. I would urge, in particular, that we lay
special stress on the culture of books and reading, which takes
knowledge beyond the classroom and frees imagination from stress of the
immediate and the utilitarian. We must be a creative people, nourished
by innumerable, interlinked rivers of ideas. Our youth must lead the way
to mastery of technology and communication in a universe where the
cloud has become a library without frontiers, and vast opportunity
awaits within the computer in your palm. The 21st century is within
India’s grasp.
Fellow Citizens:
13. This future will remain both visible and elusive if we do not
discover the ability to continually cleanse ourselves of retrograde
habits and social ills. Over the past century, some have died, others
have faded, but many still exist. We are celebrating, this year, the
centenary of Gandhiji’s return to India from South Africa. We can never
cease to learn from a Mahatma. The first thing he did in 1915 was to
keep his eyes open and his lips sealed. It is advisable to follow his
example. While we are, justifyly, focused on 1915, perhaps we should
cast a glance on what Gandhiji did in 1901, the year when he returned
home for his first break. The annual Congress session was held that year
in Calcutta, then the capital of British India. Gandhiji was a
delegate. He went to Ripon College for a meeting. He discovered that the
whole place had been dirtied by fellow-delegates. A shocked Gandhiji
did not wait for any allotted cleaner. He picked up a broom and cleaned
the area. No one followed his example in 1901. 114 years later, let us
follow his example, and become worthy children of a magnificent father.
Jai Hind!
