Chief Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High Court Arup Kumar Goswami has said Independence Day is an occasion for people to introspect as to what has been achieved in the last 75 years and the ways to maintain it, even as their “hearts swell with patriotic fervour.”
Participating as chief guest in the Independence Day celebrations at the High Court on Sunday, Mr. Justice Goswami said that Dr. B.R. Ambedkar was apprehensive in his speech in the Constituent Assembly on November 25, 1949, of the danger of India losing its independence due to the threat posed by the old enemies within (caste, creed etc.) and the forces that jeopardise the political and social democracy.
“This is, therefore, the time to rededicate ourself to achieving the vision and aspirations of the founding fathers of our nation, by always keeping in mind the fact that they secured independence for the embattled nation at great personal costs, and the future generations need to savour the fruits of freedom,” he said.
Advocate-General S. Sriram said Independence Day was the time to ponder over if Indians were free from the imbalances they had sought to correct. “The focus should be on guaranteeing to the future generations the right to equality and opportunities, and the sense of belonging and partaking the ownership of every structure and resource the country is endowed with,” Mr. Sriram said.
“It should be a collective endeavour to pass on the baton (of freedom) with as much purity and as free a manner in which it was given to us by our founding fathers,” he observed.
Justices Joymalya Bagchi and C. Praveen Kumar, other judges of the High Court, Assistant Solicitor General N. Harinath, AP High Court Advocates’ Association president Y.V. Ravi Prasad and Bar Council chairman Ghanta Rama Rao were among those present.