Realising the dreams of India's freedom fighters
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose would have been proud of our modern self-reliant armed forces and the spectacular success of Operation Sindoor. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar would have commended the government's ushering in of social justice with financial inclusion.
Guided by the principle of antyodaya, governance under the present dispensation has lifted 25 crore Indians out of poverty, which would have been welcomed by Mahatma Gandhi. The abrogation of Article 370 and casting off colonial remnants with historic legislations like Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita would have been lauded by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Providing 94.3 core Indians with a social security safety net and empowering more than 14.5 crore small farmers with financial support would have won Rajendra Prasad's approval. C Rajagopalachari would have cherished the sacred sengol being given primacy in our new Parliament building.
In 1971, when Patel, Ambedkar and Netaji were yet to be conferred India's highest civilian honour, the government headed by Indira Gandhi chose her for awarding the Bharat Ratna. Even the portraits of Netaji Bose (1978) and Ambedkar (1990) were installed in the Central Hall of Parliament under non-Congress governments. In 2003, the Leader of Opposition, Sonia Gandhi had written to President Abdul Kalam, stating, 'It will be a great tragedy if the Central Hall is utilised for installing the portrait of Savarkar'. The Congress party boycotted the event. In 2004, the UPA government removed the plaque in Andaman Cellular jail that commemorated Savarkar's nearly 11 years of imprisonment for combating the oppressive British regime. This plaque was then reinstalled in 2016. The continued smear campaign unleashed by Rahul Gandhi against Savarkar has been most appalling. Recently, the highest court of the land warned of taking suo motu action if Rahul Gandhi made any irresponsible statements against freedom fighters, observing that this is not the way we treat those who gave us freedom.
Be it celebrating nationalist Tamil poet Subramania Bharati's birth anniversary as Indian Language Day or releasing a commemorative coin on Ahilyabhai Holkar's 300th birth anniversary, PM Modi has earnestly endeavoured to honour our patriots. In 2021, the Modi government declared November 15 as Jan Jatiya Gaurav Diwas, extolling the contribution of the tribal community in India's freedom struggle. The date marks the birth anniversary of Birsa Munda, the exemplary tribal leader, and Modi was the first ever PM to visit his birth place in Ulihatu village, Jharkhand.
The visionary Bhim app for digital transactions is the present government's homage to Ambedkar's economic vision and five important places (panchteerth) related to Ambedkar's life, both in India and abroad, have been developed as centres of pilgrimage. PM Modi inaugurated world's tallest statue (the Statue of Unity in Kevadia, Gujarat) of Patel in 2018, and in 2021, dedicated the Kranti Mandir inside the Red Fort to museums paying tribute to Netaji's Indian National Army, India's first war of Independence in 1857, and the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.
As the nation awaits PM Modi's Independence Day speech, without indulging in hyperbole, one can categorically say that Modi has brought about significant awakening and substantial awareness about our Independence struggle. He has also definitively integrated the dreams of our selfless freedom fighters to the goal of Viksit Bharat, or India as a developed nation, by 2047.
CR Kesavan is a national spokesperson of the BJP. The views expressed are personal.
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