I was one of those who was against the division of India under any circumstances. I supported the partition of Bengal and the partition of the Punjab only after it was decided that the partition of India was inevitable, because then Mr. Jinnah’s claim was that the whole of Bengal and the whole of the Punjab should go into Pakistan. What we did was not to agree to the partition of India but we supported a movement which led to the partition of Pakistan itself.
Day: February 4, 2022
We shall devote ourselves not to politics alone, nor to social questions alone, nor to theology or philosophy or literature or science by themselves, but we include all these in one entity which we believe to be all-important, the Dharma, the national religion which we also believe to be universal. There is a mighty law of life, a great principle of human evolution, a body of spiritual knowledge and experience of which India has always been destined to be guardian, exemplar and missionary. This is the Sanatana Dharma the eternal religion. Under the stress of alien impacts she has largely lost hold not of the structure of that Dharma but of its living reality. For the religion of India is nothing if it is not lived. It has to be applied not only to life, but to the whole of life; its spirit has to enter into and mould our society, our politics, our literature, our science, our individual character, affections and aspirations.
Our Constitution is a democratic instrument seeking to ensure to the individual citizens the freedoms which are so invaluable. India has never prescribed or prosecuted opinion and faith and our philosophy has room as much for a devotee of a personal god, as for an agnostic or an atheist. We shall, therefore, be only implementing in practice under our Constitution what we have inherited from our traditions, namely, freedom of opinion and expression. Under the new set-up, which we are inaugurating today, we hope to live up to the teachings of our Master and help in our own humble way in the establishment of peace in the world.
The most ancient and undoubtedly the main current is the one which has been flowing from Vedic times (or perhaps even before) in our country and the life-giving waters of which have been satisfying the spiritual thirst of our people through all these centuries. It has enriched our life by inspiring it with lofty ideals, associated with great names which have become by-words in our sacred literature and ancient history, A synonym for faithfulness is Harishchandra; for sacrifice, Dadhichi; for surpassing pity, Shivi; for charity, Kama; for statesmanship, Rama; for disinterested service, Krishna; for ahimsa, the Buddha; and for dharma chakra, Asoka.
This is a memorable day in our annals. Let us begin by offering our thanks to the almighty God who has made it possible for us to see this day.
Well, the first and the most obvious fact which will attract any observer is the fact that we are going to have a Republic. India knew republics in the past olden days, but that was 2,000 years ago or more and those republics were small republics. We never had anything like the Republic which we are going to have now, although there were empires in those days as well as during the Mughal period which covered very large parts of the country. The President of the Republic will be an elected President. We never have had an elected Head of the State which covered such a large area of India. And it is for the first time that it becomes open to the humblest and the lowliest citizens of the country to deserve and become the President or the Head of this big State which counts among the biggest States of the world today.
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