PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS TO THE NATION ON THE EVE
OF INDEPENDENCE DAY - 2002 - UNITY OF MINDS
Following
is the text of the speech of the President, Dr
A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on the eve of Independence Day, 2002 :-
"My dear
citizens of India,
On the
eve of the 55th anniversary of our Independence, I have great
pleasure in offering you my best wishes for your well-being and
happiness. My salutations to all of you, both in India and abroad.
May I
extend a special word of gratitude to the men of our defence who
guard our frontiers on the land, on the sea and in the air and
paramilitary forces. May I also convey my special appreciation
to our farmers, who toil on the fields, technicians who keep the
wheels of our industry moving, teachers who create knowledge products
to the society and doctors, engineers, scientists, technologists
and other professionals and administrators who are the prime movers
of national development. May I wish the youth of India whose purposeful
hard work with sweat will be a major transforming force for prosperous
India.
I met
some of the freedom fighters a few days ago at the Rashtrapati
Bhavan. Each and every one of them was the live force for our
freedom movement. On this day, I salute all men and women of India
who fought for our freedom and sacrificed their lives to achieve
our Independence. Seeding a great vision and an indomitable spirit
to achieve India’s freedom took place around 1857. For 90 years,
there were a number of intensive struggles for freedom. Many of
our people and leaders were in jail and their sufferings got transformed
into freedom movement, with national ethos under the leadership
of Mahatma Gandhi. I have tried to capture the essence of the
freedom movement. Two aspects have come out: as a result of supreme
sacrifices and dedicated and focused efforts, we got our Independence.
The second aspect is that the vision driven movement itself created
many leaders in different spheres of politics, economics, industry,
science, arts and culture.
After
Independence, India has made significant achievements in agriculture
and food production, energy, healthcare, education and various
fields of science and technology. Particularly we have made our
mark in the international arena in the fields of pharmaceuticals,
information technology, mass media and communication, space, defence
and nuclear science.
Similar
to the first vision, which created a movement to achieve freedom
with unity of minds of our people and the unity of purpose in
actions, we need a second vision, which will integrate people
from all walks of our society towards a common purpose. The second
vision of our nation is to transform it from the present developing
status to a developed nation by integrated actions simultaneously
in the areas of agriculture and food processing, education and
healthcare, infrastructure development including power, information
and communication technologies, and critical technologies. This
greater vision will aim to alleviate poverty, illiteracy and unemployment.
When the minds of the people of our country are unified and fused
towards this vision, the dormant potential will manifest as a
mammoth power leading to a happy and prosperous life of a billion
people. This vision of the nation will also remove the conflicts
arising out of differences and small thinking.
Dear
citizens, I would like to reiterate that Jammu and Kashmir is
an integral part of India. It is not an international issue. India
is ready for bilateral dialogue once the cross border terrorism
is brought to a complete end. Normal election process is on in
Jammu and Kashmir. It is essential to ensure its successful completion
and dawn of peace in Jammu and Kashmir.
We also
have many challenges in front of us. We have to find a solution
to the repeated droughts and floods; we have to eradicate communal
and other divisive clashes sprouting in certain parts and remove
the pains of our people whether it is in Jammu and Kashmir or
in any other part of our country; we also have to find a permanent
solution to combat terrorism.
Let us
now look at a long-term problem. It is paradoxical to see floods
in one part of our country while some other parts face drought.
This drought – flood phenomenon is a recurring feature. The need
of the hour is to have a water mission, which will enable availability
of water to the fields, villages, towns and industries throughout
the year, even while maintaining environmental purity. One major
part of the water mission would be networking of our rivers. Technological
and project management capabilities of our country can rise to
the occasion and make this river networking a reality with long
term planning and proper investment. In addition, the vast sea
around us can help by providing potable water through desalination
as a cost effective technology. There are of course short-term
techniques such as water harvesting by revitalizing rural ponds,
water recycling to water conservation. Such programmes should
have a large scale people participation even at the conceptual
and project planning stages. The entire programme should revolve
around economic viability leading to continued prosperity for
our people with larger employment potential, environmental sustainability,
grass root level motivation and benefit sharing.
I would
now like to share with you friends, another crucial requirement
and necessity for our country. We cannot sustain a second vision
for the country without Unity of Minds of all our people. Our
great strength is our pluralistic tradition and civilisational
heritage of nearly 3000 years. I have always been asking myself
what the strength of our heritage is. A unique fusion has taken
place with multiple cultures, religions and the way of life of
many parts of the world and that has become the foundation of
the Indian life. One can trace from 1857 to date, the type of
good experiences we have had and also the strife resulting out
of the differences in thoughts.
I have
just now returned from Gujarat after interactions with various
cross sections of people, leaders, officials and rehabilitation
workers in the areas affected by recent disturbances and earthquake.
I also visited the Sabarmati Ashram, which was established by
Mahatma Gandhi for the purpose of our countrymen to carry on the
search for truth and develop fearlessness. I sat in silence for
a while in the Ashram and remembered the life of Gandhiji. One
dominant thought came to my mind. If we can go above our own personal
hardships and see the problems of others and decide to work for
a larger cause, then there is natural elevation of our minds.
When we are lax in this, then our level of thinking goes down.
I felt confident that all of us can be elevated to the level of
noble minds, if we just decide to understand others and to practice
tolerance. I realized that Gujarat has given the noble leader
- Mahatma Gandhi, unifier of the nation – Vallabhbhai Patel and
the great visionary in science and technology - Vikram Sarabhai
and many more. Time has come for every one of us to put the thoughts
of these great souls into action for nation’s welfare.
Non-violence,
tolerance, acceptance of all religions and different ways of life,
search for truth and fearlessness are the values the Mahatma taught
us and they are the cornerstones of our civilisational heritage
and, therefore, of Indian polity. Any act by anyone anywhere in
India that runs counter to these eternal values would pose a threat
to the fabric of free Indian nation, which was born and nurtured
by the supreme sacrifices of countless noble souls. We should
all work together to achieve the mission for Unity of Minds to
preserve what we so preciously earned and reach greater heights
in the future.
When
I interact with school children and youth, wherever I go, one
question comes often. They ask me "who are our role models?" Parents
and teachers have to show them by example to live as enlightened
citizens. Children also look for role models at national level
in different fields. I have described earlier the role models
from Gujarat. Each state of our country has many such examples
of the past. It is now time we create more role models from the
present.
I suggest that members of our
Parliament and Legislatures can shape the future of our children
by becoming good role models. Parliament and Legislatures have
a crucial role in giving the vision of developed India and value
based polity. Our children should see the members of the Parliament
debating the vision of developed India, providing action plans
and putting forth great thoughts and challenges to them. Looking
at the national leaders, the children will find their role models
for their development and growth.
I am
sure, our leadership and our people can achieve the second vision
of developed India. Let us take a vow on this Independence Day
that the nation is more important compared to any individual,
party or organisation.
I pray
to the Almighty for Unity of Minds and our success in every aspect
of life.
Jai Hind".
