The Lok Sabha marked the 75th anniversary of the Quit India movement on Wednesday with a special sitting, at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for special initiatives to end poverty, illiteracy and graft and Congress president Sonia Gandhi sounded a warning over “secular, democratic, liberal values being endangered.”
Terming poverty, lack of education and malnutrition the greatest challenges, Mr. Modi called for their eradication in the next five years with the pledge of Karenge aur kar ke rahenge (We will do and surely do).
Mood for freedom
He said the period between 1942-47 was exceptional in India’s freedom struggle as it created the mood for independence as being just a matter of time, an eventuality rather than something that was uncertain.
“Just as that period was of a quantum jump of resolution and conviction, a time when Mahatma Gandhi, with his belief in ahimsa exhorted all Indians to ‘Do or Die’, a final battle for freedom, so should we pledge to make the period between 2017-22, when Indian Independence turns 75, to be one where a similar spirit is created,” the Prime Minister said.
“In 1942, the clarion call was ‘Karenge ya marenge’ (Do or Die) — today it is ‘Karenge aur kar ke rahenge’ (We will do and accomplish). These five years are about Sankalp se siddhi (commitment to fulfilment),” he said.
In the years following Independence, he regretted, a sense of entitlement had overtaken the sense of duty to the country.
He said citizens were breaking even basic laws, like crossing red-lights or littering, with impunity and without a sense of duty to the rule of law and the freedoms that make a democratic polity possible.
“Laws are not the only thing that are required to effect a transformation like we want, the mindset of the people has to be changed, there has to be a pledge to rid the country of poverty, graft, malnutrition and communalism,” he said.
Terming India’s freedom from colonial rule as being not only about India but a defining moment in ending colonialism in other parts of the world, Mr. Modi said a transformational change in the development paradigms of the country would have a similar effect.
Ms. Gandhi, who spoke immediately after Mr. Modi, reminded the House that the Quit India resolution was moved by India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru at a meeting of the All India Congress Committee.
She also made a barely veiled jibe at the ideological mothership of the BJP, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), saying some organisations had opposed the Quit India movement and had played no role in India’s struggle for freedom.
In her address, Ms. Gandhi expressed an apprehension that the “forces of darkness” were trying to destroy the roots of democracy. She said there was a feeling that the “clouds of the politics of division and hate” were hovering over the plural and egalitarian values enshrined in the Constitution.
“It seems secular, democratic and liberal values are being endangered. The public space for debate and difference of opinion is shrinking…have the forces of darkness emerged? Is there a fear about the existence of a sense of freedom? Are attempts being made to destroy roots of democracy which is based on equality, social justice, law-based system and freedom of expression,” Ms. Gandhi said.
“We should not forget that there were people and organisations which had opposed the Quit India movement and had played no role in getting our country freedom,” she said.
BJP member Kirron Kher shouted “travesty, travesty”, as Ms. Gandhi made these remarks but was signalled from the treasury benches to remain quiet, with the Prime Minister listening to the speech.
“People have to fight for the India they believe in, which is loved by one and all and which was envisioned by the freedom fighters,” Ms. Gandhi said, adding, “We can and will not allow the idea of India to be a prisoner to narrow mindedness, divisive and communal ideology.”
“If we have to preserve freedom, we will have to defeat the forces endangering it. We can’t and we won’t allow sectarian forces to succeed,” she said, asking people to defeat such “repressive” forces.