Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's remarks at meeting of Comm. of 150th Anniversary of First War of Independence

Ladies and Gentlemen,

"I am grateful to all of you for your time and your valuable comments. I think this has been a useful discussion and some very interesting suggestions have been made.

I do believe that this opportunity to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the First War of Independence in 1857 should be used to recapture the spirit of our freedom struggle. I sincerely believe that a new generation of Indians must be made to feel the patriotism and the idealism of our forefathers. I also believe that this is an opportunity to derive inspiration from the unity of the Indian people exemplified in that struggle. Indians cutting across communities, religions, regions, castes and languages came together to fight for freedom from foreign rule.

I also think we must re-discover the aesthetic beauty of the freedom movement. The celebration of the writing of our National Song, Vande Mataram, should be used to underscore the cultural and aesthetic sources of Indian nationalism. I also think we should draw attention to the role played by women leaders like Rani of Jhansi who also fought against British attempts to implement gender biased laws of inheritance. This is an year of many anniversaries. We are also celebrating the 60th anniversary of our Independence. In whatever we do we must rediscover the ideals and the idealism of the national movement.

I was recently at Sewagram in Wardha and was truly inspired by the simplicity that marked Gandhiji's life. I think we must convey this message of the value of "high thinking and simple living" to our youth. The celebration of our freedom movement should not become an occasion for jingoism, narrow nationalism and chauvinism. Rather, it must be an opportunity to celebrate our diversity, our liberalism, our civilisational inheritance and the values of integrity and service to man that defined the national movement. I hope we can communicate these ideas and values through the programmes we undertake to organize.

Thank you. "