This is the launch of a change, a change that does not recognise religions or regions, a changethat does not recognise caste or creed. This change recognises your allegiance to one entity and one entity alone – India.
For decades at a stretch, political leaders have attempted to divide us along lines of religion, caste, sub-caste or region of belonging. We have seen people climb to the top based on divisive rather than inclusive politics and this must come to an end.
At a time when the country was under attack from enemies, people still had the gall to point fingers at certain other sections of society and political spectrum. For the most part, the people were united, but the divisive nature of our unity is something we must all be deeply and profoundly ashamed off.
What I propose is a radical overhaul of our institution, not in structure but in culture. Let us no longer think about who belongs to which religion to get admission into a school or who belongs to which caste to gain employment. Let us no longer fall prey to those who say that one particular part of India belongs to those people who are “sons of the soil”.
We were all born in the same hospitals; we all studied in the same schools and colleges. Many of us work in the same offices. All of us use the same roads, drink the same water and breathe the same air. Then why do we discriminate among each other because of who our ancestors were?
Why do we say that an Indian who’s forefathers were born in Pune have more rights on the land of Mumbai than an Indian who’s forefathers were born in Patna?
Why do we say that an Indian whose forefathers were born as Shudras based on a classification that was created thousands of years ago should be compensated today at the expense of more meritorious and deserving fellow Indians?
We find it convenient to blame the politicians from creating divisions, yet we continue to vote for the same people every few years. Should we not blame ourselves for this? Should we not expect that we shall reap that what we sow? Let us no longer fall prey to the divisive policies of the current establishment.
What I ask you is not to rebel against the establishment, what I ask you is not to turn radical and destroy the establishment. However what I ask you is to think before you fall victim to the people involved in the establishment.
Once again, We the People must solemnly resolve to constitute India into the Sovereign Democratic Republic she was meant to be and to secure to all fellow Indians – Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the Unity of the Nation; in our minds and consciousness, on this day and every day till the end of days.
Let us turn Our Country to a land where solidarity is practised rather than expressed, into a land where tolerance is displayed rather than preached and a land where our differences are irrelevant compared to our allegiance to India.
