At
Congress Centenary Session
(Indira Nagar (Brabourne Stadium)
Bombay, December 28, 1985
CONGRESS
CENTENARY SESSION, BOMBAY
DECEMBER
27-29, 1985
Friends,
This is a moment consecrated by history. One hundred years
have passed since the Indian National Congress first met
in this great city. Between then and now, India and the
world have witnessed profound historical changes-changes
that have affected the very structure of human thought and
action. In this epoch of radical change, the Indian National
Congress brought the world to India and took India to the
world. Its non-violent revolution has transformed our nation.
Today, it charts the path to India's greatness.
We
rejoice in this moment. We rejoice in the great achievements,
the great deeds of the people of India. We rejoice in the
noble expressions of the human intellect and spirit represented
by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi. We
rejoice in the pledge redeemed. We rejoice that the honour
is ours now to carry the torch of freedom and progress.
But
our joy is mixed with sorrow. Indiraji should have been
here today, speaking to you in her gentle, impassioned voice.
One with Bharatmata's immortal spirit, she now shines as
a lodestar not only for us but for all humanity.
As
I recall the great women and men who have led the Indian
National Congress - the Parliament of Indian Nationalism
- I feel proud and humble. I draw strength from the glorious
tradition of our party and from the overflowing affection
of the people of India.
May
I thank dynamic Bombay and its gracious and hospitable people,
for playing host to us, as they played host to our founding
fathers in 1885? I, of course, have a sentimental relationship
with Bombay. I was born here. Life- giving currents from
every part of India flow into Bombay. It is India in microcosm.
Many
distinguished delegates have come to this session from far
and near, bringing to us the friendship and greetings of
their parties and peoples. We appreciate this gesture. Through
these honoured guests, we send our good wishes to the people
of their countries.
As
I stand before you this morning, my mind travels back to
those fateful years when the Congress fought for India's
freedom. And I think of those giants who made the Indian
National Congress. Seldom has the world seen a nobler galaxy
of women and men, so selfless in their devotion to the cause
of freedom, so exalted in thought, so brave in action, so
pure in spirit. To remember them is to live once again in
those times 'when the world's great age seemed to begin
anew.' A.O. Hume, Woomesh Chandra Bonnerji, Dadabhai Naoroji,
Pherozeshah Mehta, Mahadev Govind Ranade, Badruddin Tyabji,
Lokmanya Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Surendra Nath Bannerjee,
Annie Besant, Bepin Chandra Pal, Lala Lajpat Rai, Mahatma
Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Madan Mohan Malaviya, Deshbandhu
Chitta Ranjan Das, Srivivasa Iyengar, Sarojini Naidu, M.
A. Ansari, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Chakravarti
Rajagopalachari, Mazharul Huque, Satyamurthi, Rajendra Prasad,
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Saifudin Kitchlew, Tristao de Braganza
Cunha, Gopabandhu Das, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Gopinath
Bordoloi, Govind Ballabh Pant, Purushottam Das Tandon, T.
Prakasam, Bidhan Chandra Roy, Acharya Kripalani, Acharya
Narendra Dev, Rajkumari Amrit Kaur, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai, Acharya
Vinoba Bhave, Jayaprakash Narayan, Indira Gandhi, Kamaraj,
Lal Bahadur Shastri, Gurmukh Singh Musafir, Fakhruddin Ali
Ahmed and countless others. We bow in reverence to their
memory. They awakened the spirit of freedom in the Indian
people crushed under the oppressive burden of imperialism.
Gurudev Tagore and Shri Aurobindo Ghosh were one with the
leaders of our struggle for independence in reawakening
India to its true destiny.
It
is our fortune that one of our great freedom fighters, Khan
Abdul Ghaffar Khan Sahib, is with us today. His life is
a saga of sacrifice and non-violence. He has asked nothing
for himself and has given his all to the service of his
fellow men. We greet him with respect, with love, and pray
he may long be with us.
We
are blessed with the presence of large number of freedom
fighters. We honour them for they made freedom a living
reality. Their refusal to submit to the indignity of slavery,
the very act of their defiance, and their luminous vision
of a united and free India touched the imagination of millions.
To the nameless and unsung heroes of our freedom struggle,
we offer our humble tribute. Their life-blood nourishes
the body of independent India.
How
did the miracle of India's rebirth in freedom come about?
And what did India do with this new life? The answers are
to be found in the story of the Indian National Congress.
How
shall we remember Mahatma Gandhi, that eternal pilgrim of
freedom? Born of the very spirit of India, steeped in the
tradition, the song, the legend of our ancient land - and
yet he was revolutionary. Unique among revolutionaries,
he marched for freedom, clad in the robe of truth, with
non-violence for his staff.
He
did not counter the violence of the oppressor with the violence
of the oppressed. He met it by changing the oppressed from
within. He freed them from fear and hatred. He ignited the
greatest peaceful mass movement known to history. At his
gentle summons, millions of Indians rose to assert their
human dignity and walked upright with the spark of greatness
in them.
Gandhiji
the revolutionary was concerned with nothing less than the
total reconstruction of our society. In Champaran among
the impoverished peasants, in Ahmedabad among the textile
workers, and in hundreds of thousands of villages of India,
he had seen the soul of India seared by the ruthless exploitation
of the poor. He saw how India's social system had been vitiated
by iniquitous practices - the oppression of the Harijans,
of the women and of the poor.
To
Mahatma Gandhi, the key to India's progress was the development
of its villages. In his unified vision, education, agriculture,
village industry, social reform, all came together to provide
the basis for a vibrant rural society, free from exploitation
and linked to the urban centres as equals our planning incorporates
this basic insight.
His
crusade against untouchability stirred and ossified system.
His radical premise of human dignity and equality electrified
millions who lived and struggled at the very margin of social
existence. Independent India was to enshrine Mahatma Gandhi's
war on untouchability in its Constitution.
The
freedom movement transformed the status of women. Women
fought along with men as comrades. In the process, the shackles
that had bound them fell away. Legal safeguards and tights
were to come later but Mahatma Gandhi emancipated women
from slavery and oppression. What took centuries in other
countries was accomplished in a matter of decades in our
freedom struggle.
The
mark of true revolutionary is that he sets new standards
and values. Gandhiji did. Let us recall his words:
"I
will give you a talisman. Whenever you are in doubt or when
the self becomes too much with you, apply the following
test: Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man
whom you may have seen and ask yourself if the step you
contemplate is going to be of any use to him. Will he gain
anything by it? Will it restore him to a control over his
own life and destiny? In other words, will it lead to swaraj
for the hungry and spiritually starving millions? Then you
will find your doubts and your self melting away."
We
cannot, and will not, rest until we have won true swaraj
for the hungry and spiritually starving millions - until
we have wiped out poverty from our land. Then and only then
can we claim the privilege of being true disciples of the
great mahatma.
Mahatma
Gandhi called Jawaharlal Nehru 'the jewel of India'. Panditji
added new dimensions to our concept of freedom. To a reawakened
India, he brought intimations of mighty historical forces
at work on the world stage. As the freedom struggle grew
in intensity, he went out among the masses, unfolding his
vision of the future: immemorial India rejuvenated by modern
science, technology, and the cleansing moral force of socialism,
yet retaining her identity and the age old wealth of her
spiritual wisdom.
Jawaharlal
Nehru destroyed the edifice of imperialism. For he knew
he had the greater task of building a new society. He was
a treat builder. He gave India the enduring structure of
democratic parliamentary institutions buttressed by the
rule of law. Fundamental rights, directive principles of
State policy, and safeguards for the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes together make our Constitution one of humanity's
great charters of freedom and equality. We have passed through
many a crisis, but democracy has continued to flourish-to
the consternation of those who believed that democracy was
for the rich, not for the poor. In India democracy, with
all its claimant contention, is alive and vibrant.
Jawaharlal
Nehru fashioned the planning process to reach the ultimate
objective of a socialist. Planning is now a part of the
national consensus. It was not always so. It used to be
described as the road to serfdom. Those who scoffed have
stayed to praise. We have a strong economy. We are firmly
set on the path of self-reliance, which means more freedom,
nor less. Our planning process has succeeded.
Panditji
built the infrastructure of science and technology with
loving care. Atomic energy and Space stand out as symbols
of this achievement, bit no field was left untouched. Let
us not forget that it was Panditji who established the great
laboratories, the giant irrigation dams, the fertilizer
plants and the agricultural universities. This was the foundation
of out self-sufficiency.
Immersed
as he was in the thick of our freedom struggle, Pandit Nehru
foresaw that, in the ultimate analysis, the linkages between
modern agriculture and industrialisation offered the only
lasting solution to the poverty of India's masses. With
independence, the time came to translate into reality the
dream of a vigorous, industrialised India. Panditji created
the imposing structure of our industry. Leading this mighty
effort was the public sector, a strong and dependable lever
for development. He envisioned for it the commanding heights
of the economy. Under his inspiration, basic industries,
infrastructure, machine building, oil exploration, metals
and minerals and defence industries were established. In
the public sector new technology was absorbed and nurtured.
New skills came to those who had never turned a simple lathe.
Centres of modern industry blossomed in backward and remote
areas. With confidence, the Indian people wrote a new chapter
in their long and tumultuous history. Through the instrument
of the public sector, Jawaharlal Nehru made the decisive
break with India's colonial de-industrialised stagnation.
Panditji
was the great unifier of the Indian people. India is the
home of many great religions. Her many splendoured mansion
of unity rests on the bedrock of secularism. Like a great
teacher, he expounded in simple language the philosophy
of secularism. He repeatedly warned the nation against communalism.
To him, secularism was the beacon light when waves of passion
threatened to submerge us.
Panditji
looked at the world with the eyes of a humanist, in love
with nature and with the works of man. He perceived before
many others, that the splitting of the atom had changed
for all time to come the universe of discourse among nations.
War in nuclear age was no longer policy by other means-it
was mass suicide. He saw no meaning in military blocs. They
did not guarantee security. They only guaranteed fear. He
wanted nations to cooperate, not dominate. He evolved the
philosophy of non-alignment. Non-align is the international
expression of national resurgence. It is the extension of
democracy to international relations. It means independence
of thought and action. Panditji abjured entanglement with
power blocs, because poser blocs are based on conflict,
and erode the independence of countries, which join them.
He put forward the positive concept of peaceful co-existence,
and, co-operation to build a better, saner world free from
anxiety, suspicion and fear. This vision of a cooperative
world order even today guides the Non-aligned Movement,
representing the vast majority of the family of nations.
It is a powerful force for freedom, peace and justice in
the world. In its centenary year, the Indian National Congress
is proud that India has the honour to lead the Non-aligned
Movement.
All
this and more is the legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru, his imperishable
bequest to us in the Indian National Congress.
The
smooth succession of Lal Bahadur Shastri proved the inherent
strength of our democratic system. He guided the country
with steadfast devotion to the basic policies of the Congress.
The Congress has always stood for patriotism, simplicity,
selfless service and dedication to the cause of the underprivileged,
Shastriji epitomised these values.
With
the sudden demise of Shastriji, once more the questions
arose with even greater urgency: would a united India survive?
Would its democracy endure? Would a food-deficit country
be able to preserve its independence? Would the cry of social
justice remain unheeded? India's voice for freedom, peace
and justice remain as firm and resonant as in the past?
Or would neo-colonialism claim yet another victim? Would
India once again become a petitioner in the chancelleries
of the west?
The
world was torn by anxiety and conflict. In Vietnam, war
continued to rage. There were no signs of any lessening
of East-West tensions. In India, food shortages and inflation
bred serious unrest. There were intense pressures to abandon
the path of planned development. It was situation to daunt
the most stout-hearted.
Never
known to flee from challenge, Indira Gandhi took up cudgels
on behalf of the masses of India. She placed the removal
of poverty at the very centre of the planning process. One
radical step followed boldly upon another, establishing
beyond doubt where the sympathies of the Indian National
Congress lay. The nationalisation of banks, the abolition
of privy-purses, the takeover of the coal mines, the promulgation
of radical land reforms and the creation of constitutional
safety-nets for them, the formulation of a system of guaranteed
prices to farmers, the setting up of a country wide public
distribution system, the large scale extension on modern
technology to agriculture, the establishment of Monopolies
and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission to curb concentration
of economic power, the great impetus to the growth of the
public sector, the Pokharan test for peaceful purposes,
the Space programme and the launching of the massive 20-Point
Programme and the Rural landless Labour employment Guarantee
Programme- all these electrified the nation.
The
Congress in the late sixties reminded one of Panditji's
address to the 1936 Lucknow Congress, where he said:
"we
have largely lost touch with the masses and, deprived of
the life-giving energy that flows from them, we dry up and
weaken and our organisation shrinks and loses the power
it had."
The
people were adrift. The policies of the Congress were in
confusion. There was no programme of action. At this point
of crisis, Indira Gandhi revitalised the party by restoring
its organic link with the masses. The sap of action began
to flow one again in the veins of the organisation. The
vocabulary and the idiom of Indian politics were never to
be same again after her historic call for 'garibi hatao'.
Indiraji
transformed the Congress from a party in which vested interest
had gradually gained ascendancy into a party which identified
itself totally with the hopes and aspirations of the poor.
Through her unrelenting struggle against those who opposed
radical change in our social and economic structure, she
placed her indelible stamp on the history of our party.
With unparalleled tenacity, she persuaded millions of Congresswomen
and men to pursue the path of socialism to progress. She
took the people into confidence on the nature of the issues,
which were convulsing the Congress and mobilised them behind
her policies. The masses gave her the strength to face with
unequalled courage the inner turmoil of the party. They
manned the barricades. In 1969, the champions of the status
quo had to retreat, relinquishing their control of our great
organisations. The triumph of the Congress in the 1971 elections
was a big blow to the forces that had thwarted social change
from within the party. They were to regroup and challenge
her again.
India's
unequivocal stand on major international issues had disturbed,
even alarmed, forces who were exerting pressures on us to
deflect us from our independent policy of non-alignment.
The emergence of sovereign Bangladesh and Indira Gandhi's
historic role in it were anathema to neo-imperialism. Almost
immediately thereafter began the collusion between external
and internal forces of destabilisation. The international
economic crisis, widespread drought and inflation within
the country put an intolerable strain on our system. National
stability was in dire peril.
To
meet an unprecedented threat to the nation's stability,
an emergency was proclaimed in 1975. The process of socio-economic
change gathered momentum with the promulgation of the bold
and dynamic 20 Point Programme. A democrat to the core of
her being, Indiraji called elections in 1977. She accepted
the verdict of the people who defeated her and the Congress.
She knew it was an angry reaction to some mistakes that
had been committed, but that the people were still with
her and with the Congress. She stood by the people in their
travail as they faced the tragic consequences of the reversal
of nationally accepted policies. But many of her colleagues
did not have her courage of conviction. Their vision faltered.
They parted company with her. The congress again emerged,
with youth in the vanguard as the sword arm of the poor.
They voted her back in 1980, expressing their unbounded
love for her and trust in her commitment to social justice.
In
radicalising the Congress, Indira Gandhi also gave new strength
and vitality to the democratic parliamentary institutions
of the Republic. She realigned our political process with
the urges of the toiling masses. By translating the people's
aspirations into epoch making legislation, policy innovations
and programmes for the uplift o the poor, she made the legislatures
watchful guardians of the rights and needs of the people.
Elections and the parliamentary process acquired ideological
and programmatic clarity, giving direction to national progress.
She mobilised immense numbers of people from all strata,
filling them with hope and deepening their allegiance to
the democratic way of life. In victory as in defeat, Indiraji
was the prime mover of the people's emotions and endeavours.
She ensured that India's democracy would never be the plaything
of vested interests.
Indira
Gandhi knew, as did Jawaharlal Nehru, that social justice
depended on the production and equitable distribution of
wealth. She attended to the growth potential of our economy
like a living mother. The first to claim her attention was
agriculture. Not just because and overwhelming majority
derived their livelihood from agriculture, but because national
independence and self-respect demanded that we do not stretch
our hands before anyone for food. Many here will still recall
the pain and the humiliation of the 'ship-to-mouth' days.
She called upon our farmers and our agricultural scientists
to apply modern technology to increase food production.
Their heart-warming response is a matter of history. Thus
were laid the impregnable foundations of self-reliance.
As
she had faced not one but two oil crises, Indira Gandhi
was determined to take India towards self-sufficiency in
energy resources. The prodigious effort to raise oil production,
trebling it in the short space of four years, is testimony
to her far-sighted vision.
Indiraji
had a unique relationship with India's dedicated scientific
community. She was their special friend to whom they turned
for counsel and encouragement. Together they placed India
in the front rank of international scientific communities.
A few days ago I was in Kalpakkam to inaugurate the fast
breeder test reactor. India is the seventh country in the
world to have such a reactor. Indiraji's monumental work
in furthering indigenous science and technology has greatly
strengthened the base for self-reliance.
Generations
will remember with gratitude the decisive direction Indira
Gandhi gave to India's industrialisation and technological
advance. She set exacting tasks for the public sector, which
responded with enthusiasm. Through the exertions of the
working class and talented managers and technologists, it
became the pivot of India's industrial progress. All branches
and sectors of industry grew with speed, placing India among
the major industrial nations of the world. The enormous
range and depth of industrial progress, centred on the public
sector, has served the nation well. Today, if we are poised
for faster technological growth, the credit goes to Indiraji
who prepared the see-bed of modernisation.
In
the international field, Indira Gandhi was the authentic
voice of non-alignment, of peace and peaceful coexistence,
disarmament and development. She was bold and fearless,
refusing to be cowed down by pressures howsoever strong.
Where the independence or sovereignty of India was in question,
she never vacillated, never hesitated, never compromised.
She stood like a rock in the defence of India.
The
passion that ruled her was above all the passion for the
unity and integrity of India. In the perspective of history,
she knew how India had been subjugated because of its inability
to rectify internal weaknesses and to unitedly confront
external dangers. She turned the searchlight on the internal
social malaise that weakened the nation-the deprivation
of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes, the social
and economic backwardness of the minorities, communalism,
casteism and narrow regional loyalties. Her effort throughout
was to strengthen the national fabric. Her socio-economic
programmes are her greatest contribution to national integration.
But
she never forgot the threats to India, external and internal,
direct and indirect, military and economic. She campaigned
relentlessly to alert the nation to these dangers and toiled
unremittingly to strengthen our defences. She had seen again
and again how the independence and unity of nations had
been suborned and subverted. She was determined not to let
this happen to India. Nothing would induce her to accept
the dilution of an iota of India's unity and sovereignty,
even at the cost of her life.
What
of the future? Where do we go from here?
There
is no rest for us. As Jawaharlal Nehru had said, "We
cannot rest, for rest is betrayal of those who have gone
and in going handed the torch of freedom to us to keep alight;
it is betrayal of the cause we have espoused and the pledge
we have taken; it is betrayal of the millions who never
rest." We cannot rest.
The
history of our party tells us that, at each critical turning
point, we took stock of our weaknesses and strengths to
decide the direction we must take. The present situation
demands a similar unsparing examination. Without self-introspection,
without soul searching, movement will not be much avail.
We must see ourselves in the mirror of truth. What have
we done with the legacy of our great leaders?
To
answer this question, I must delve into my own political
experience, short though it is. When I started my political
work, it was only with the motive of being by the side of
my mother. She bore with stoic fortitude the irreparable
loss of a son who had been a tower of strength. She gave
me no directions, no formulate, no prescriptions. She just
said, "Understand the real India, Its people, its problems."
So I plunged into work. Millions of faces in varying moods
of joy and sorrow, of eager expectation, of triumph and
defeat filled my being, till they merged into the face of
mother India, proud, defiant, confident but also full of
sad perplexity. Always, the unspoken question haunting her
face: Whither India?
I
was exhilarated by what had been achieved in the short period
since Independence. I was also saddened by what might have
been but was not, because of weaknesses in government and
in the party. I kept my counsel to my-self, as I was an
apprentice in the great school of politics.
After
two years of incessant travelling, meeting people, reading
and reflection, I felt I could go to her with my perceptions.
Listening to me, she thought I had gained some understanding
of the complexities of our society. And then she began to
unburden herself. She spoke of India's enduring strength
and of her hopes for India, but also of her apprehensions
and anxieties. She analysed with clinical precision how
the entire system had been weakened from within, how the
party had once again been infiltrated by vested interests
who would not allow us to move, how patronage and graft
had affected the national institutional framework, how nationalism
and patriotism had ebbed, how the pettiness and selfishness
of persons in political positions had ruptured social fabric.
She was clear that if India had to keep her 'tryst with
destiny,' so much had to change. And them, suddenly, she
left us. Indiraji's thoughts and reflections on the state
of the nation are an abiding influence.
We
have cherished our democracy. Democracy is our strength.
In 1984, the people of India gave out party its largest
ever majority. Their eloquent verdict strengthened then
unity and integrity of India. A nation sorrowing over its
beloved leader drew from its vast reserves of strength to
protect the inheritance of its glorious freedom struggle.
We
applied the lessons of the 1984 elections to the complex
and difficult problems in Punjab and Assam. Our basic concern
was to end any sense of alienation in the larger interests
of national unity. We carried forward the process to reach
understanding and harmony, to dispel mistrust and suspicion,
and to seek the people's mandate for progress through brotherhood.
We had no narrow partisan considerations in view. The situation
demanded that we rise above mere expediency. The Congress,
with its century-old tradition of nationalism, put India
first.
We
have no illusions that all problems have been resolved.
But the democratic way of nation building requires patience,
perseverance and a spirit of conciliation. Those who have
been entrusted with responsibility have to constantly keep
in view the larger perspective of unity. They have to act
in the same spirit in which we have acted, the spirit of
the nationalism. Enduring unity comes from the willing cooperation
of all.
We
proclaim celebrate the unity of India. It is a fact of transcending
significance. But is it not also a fact that most of us,
in our daily lives, do not think of ourselves as Indians?
We see ourselves as Hindus, Muslims or Christians, or Malyalees,
Maharashtrians, Bengalis. Worse, we think of ourselves as
Brahmins, Thakurs, Jats, Yadavas and so on and so forth.
And we shed blood to uphold our narrow and selfish denominations.
We are imprisoned by the narrow, domestic walls of religion,
language, caste, and region, blocking out the clear view
of a resurgent nation. Political parties, State Governments
and social organisations promote policies, programmes and
ideologies which divide brother from brother and sister
from sister. Bonds of fraternity and solidarity yield to
the onslaughts of meanness of mind and spirit. Is this the
India for which Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi sacrificed
their lives?
Turn
to the great institutions of our country and you will see
that too often, behind, their imposing facades, the spirit
and substance lack vitality. The work they do sometimes
seem strangely irrelevant to the primary concerns of the
masses. Attempts are made to taint the electoral process
at its very source. Issues of crucial national importance
are frequently subordinated to individual sectional and
regional interests. Our legislatures do not set standards
for other groups to follow; they magnify manifold the conspicuous
lack of a social ethic. A convenient conscience compels
individuals to meander from ideology, to ideology seeking
power, influence and riches. Political parties twist their
tenets, enticed by opportunism. "The best lack all
conviction and the worst are full of passionate intensity.
We
are amongst the few to have the rule of law and an independent
judiciary. But thousands wait for decades while an elaborate
and arcane machinery grids ever so slowly. The poor have
little hope of timely redress.
We value our free press. It made a magnificent contribution
to our freedom struggle. After Independence, the national
media have helped consolidate our unity and promote social
and economic change. But the question the media need to
put to themselves is: Does their contribution to nation
building measure up to their role in the freedom struggle?
Our
economy owes much to the enterprise of our industrialists.
But there are some reputed business and industrial establishments
which shelter battalions of law -breakers and tax evaders.
We have industrialists untouched by the thrusting spirit
of the great risk-takers and innovators. The trader's instinct
for quick profits prevails. They flourish on sick industries.
Many have not cared learn the fundamental lesson that industrialisation
springs from the development of indigenous technology, not
from dependence on others. Industrial empire built on the
shaky foundations of excessive protection, social irresponsibility,
import orientation and corruption may not last long.
The
trade have a glorious heritage of nationalism and of socially
relevant radicalism. Today, they are a mere shadow of their
past. They now protect the few who have, oblivious of millions
who have not. They feel little concern of the creation of
national wealth, only for a larger and larger share in it.
Nothing is considered illegitimate if one marches under
the right flag. Power without responsibility, rights without
duties have come to be their prerogative. Will productivity
arise from such stony soil ? Let us not forget that the
poor and the unemployed have to sacrifice their development
programmes to subsidise inefficient industry.
In
the field of education, the nation has much to be proud
of. Access to education has been widened immeasurably. Indian
scholars are in the front rank of creative endeavour in
the best institutions across the world. But the schools,
the universities and the academies of the Republic, which
should fill our minds with hope for tomorrow, cause us great
concern. Teachers seldom teach and students seldom learn.
Strikes, mass copying, agitations are more attractive alternatives.
Where there should be experiment and innovation, there is
obeisance to dead ritual and custom, smothering creativity
and quest for knowledge and truth. Where there should be
independence and integrity, there is the heavy hand of politics,
caste and corruption. Where there should be a new integration
between modern science and our heritage, there is a dull
repetition of lifeless formulate. Millions are illiterate.
Millions of children have never been inside a school.
And
what of the iron frame of the system, the administrative
and the technical services, the police and the myriad functionaries
of the State? They have done so much and can do so much
more, but as the proverb says there can be no protection
if the fence starts eating the crop. We have Government
servants who do not serve but oppress the poor and the helpless,
police who do not uphold the law but shield the guilty,
tax collectors who do not collect taxes but connive with
those who cheat the State and whole legions Whose only concern
is their private welfare at the cost of society. They have
no work, ethic, no feeling for the public cause, no involvement
in the future of the nation, no comprehension of national
goals, no commitment to the values of modern India. They
have only a grasping, mercenary outlook, devoid of competence,
integrity and commitment.
How
have we come to this pass?
We
have looked at others. Now let us look at ourselves. What
has become of our great organisation? Instead of a party
that fired the imagination of the masses throughout the
length and breadth of India, we have shrunk, losing touch
with the toiling millions. It is not a question of victories
and defeats in elections. For a democratic party, victories
and defeats are part of its continuing political existence.
But what does matter is whether or not we work among the
masses, whether or not we are in tune with their struggles,
their hopes and aspirations. We are a party of social transformation,
but in our preoccupation with governance we are drifting
away from the people. Thereby, we have weakened ourselves
and fallen prey to the ills that the loss of invigorating
mass contact brings.
Millions
of ordinary Congress workers throughout the country are
full of enthusiasm for the Congress policies and programmes.
But they are handicapped, for on their backs ride the brokers
of power and influence, who dispense patronage to convert
a mass movement into a feudal oligarchy. They are self-perpetuating
cliques who thrive by invoking the slogans of caste and
religion and by enmeshing the living body of the Congress
in their net of
avarice.
For
such persons, the masses do not count. Their life style,
their thinking - of lack of it, their self-aggrandisement,
their corrupt ways, their linkages with the vested interests
in society, and their sanctimonious posturing are wholly
incompatible with work among the people. They are reducing
the Congress organisation to shell from which the spirit
of service and sacrifice has been empted.
As
we have distanced ourselves from the masses, basic issues
of national unity and integrity, social change and economic
development recede into the background. Instead, phoney
issues, shrouded in medieval obscurantism, occupy the centre
of the stage. Our Congress workers, who faced the bullets
of British imperialism, run for shelter at the slightest
manifestation of caste and communal tension. Is this the
path that Gandhiji, Panditji and Indiraji showed to a secular,
democratic India?
We
talk of the high principles and lofty ideals needed to build
a strong and prosperous India. But we obey no discipline,
no rule, follow no principle of public weal. Corruption
is not only tolerated but even regarded as the hallmark
of leadership. Flagrant contradiction between what we say
and what we do has become our way of life. At every step,
our aims and actions conflict. At every stage, our private
self crushes our social commitment.
As
action has diverged from precept, the ideology of the Congress
has acquired the status of an heirloom, to be polished and
brought out on special occasions. It must be a living force
to animate the Congress workers in their day-to-day activity.
Our ideology of nationalism, secularism, democracy and socialism
is the only relevant ideology for our great country. But
we are forgetting that we must take it to the masses, interpret
its content in changing circumstances, and defend it against
the attacks of our opponents.
Mahatma
Gandhi visualised the Congress as a fighting machine. Time
and again we have demonstrated our fighting qualities -
in the great non-cooperation movements of the twenties and
thirties, in the Quit India movement of 1942, in the fifties
and sixties when we carried the message of socialism to
every door, in 1969-71 when the vested interests had to
be fought in Parliament, in the courts and in the streets
and in 1977-79 when persecution and calumny were answered
by thousands of brave satyagrahis throughout the country.
This is our tradition. We have to revive this tradition
to fight for the poor and the oppressed. Only by doing so
shall we gain the strength to create the India of our dreams.
The
revitalisation of our organisation is a historical necessity.
At this critical juncture, there is no other political party
capable of defending the unity and integrity of the country.
There is no other party capable of taking the country forward
to progress and prosperity. All other parties are shot through
with internal contradictions. The sorry, un-edifying spectacle
of their total incapacity, corruption, nepotism, hypocrisy
has disfigured our political landscape. They have shown
a cynical disregard for sensitive issues of national security.
Some have not hesitated even to colude with anti-national
elements. Their ideological roots are shallow, their political
outlook circumscribed by region, caste and religion. Whatever
they have come to power, they have retarded social and economic
progress. They have no sense of history. Those who campaign
for a weak Centre, campaign against the unity and integrity
of India. Their slogans of welfare are spurious because
true welfare comes from growth, which they have been busy
destroying. It is the responsibility of the Congress to
ensure that India is not left to the mercy of such forces.
We
must once more generate a mass movement based on Congress
ideology to fulfil this momentous task. Only with such a
movement can we cleanse the party and the nation. The inner
strength of our people, their unbounded patriotism, their
unshakable commitment to social justice, and their aspiration
for a strong and prosperous India will destroy the ugliness
and enrich the creative ground of India's greatness.
How
will this mass movement of epic proportions arise? What
are the essentials of the Build India Movements?
The
country needs a politics of service to the poor. The country
needs a politics based on ideology and programmes. To bring
this about, we must break the nexus between political parties
and vested interests. We will change the electoral laws
to ensure cleaner elections. We will make political parties
accountable for the funds they receive. We will wage an
ideological war against those who exploit the poor in the
name of caste and religion.
The
Congress, the custodian of the national will and the sentinel
of India's freedom and unity, will be reorganised and revitalised.
It will gather in its fold patriots of all sections and
all communities. It will be the shield of the oppressed
and the sword of the poor.
The
war on corruption will go on without let or hindrance. The
country needs a clean social and political environment the
Congress is determined to give it.
Any
denial of justice to the poor and the weak is in itself
a crime. Our judicial institutions and legal systems have
to be streamlined and strengthened. Sooner, rather than
later. We shall put our best brains to work on this problem.
Our
administrative machinery is cumbersome, archaic and alien
to the needs and aspirations of the people. It has successfully
resisted the imperative of change. It must learn to serve
the people. It must become accountable for results. We need
structural changes at all levels. We shall have them.
The
India of the future is growing in her schools and universities.
But our schools and universities do not relate to the vision
of the future. They continue to function in the old grooves.
A new blueprint for education is being designed. It will
not come out of musty corridors of the educational establishments.
It will only come from a movement involving teachers, students,
parents, thinkers and philosophers. Not a movement to capture
more privileges, but a movement that sees the future in
relation to the present and the past, a movement that uses
that vast untapped energy of millions to create a design
suited to our needs.
As
we look back on what we have achieved, one thought keeps
coming back to mind. How must faster we would have developed
had we succeeded in restricting the growth of our population.
Progress would have been greater not in material terms alone,
but in the quality of human life. That makes the family
planning programme so crucial to our future development.
We need a better strategy to achieve the national goal of
a stable population, healthier and better educated.
The
time has come to infuse new life into the struggle against
poverty. Our anti-poverty programmes, notably the 20 Point
Programme, have to come out of the grip of bureaucratic
sloth and inefficiency. They have to become people's programmes.
All the elements - education, health and nutrition, family
planning, land reforms and cooperatives, communications,
agriculture, animal husbandry, industrial and rural crafts
- all have to come together in an integrated programme to
wipe out the age - old curse of poverty. The power to shape
their own lives must lie with the people, not with bureaucrats
and experts. Experts must help the people. Vibrant village
panchayats must discuss, deliberate and decide the choices
to be made. This is a challenge to the Congress cadres.
It is up to us, the workers of this great organisation,
spread in every village and every hamlet of India, to mobilise
the people, to guide them, to stand by their side when they
are denied their due, to fight for them and to see that
resources are properly utilized, not frittered away on unproductive
projects. This will keep our organisation in touch with
the masses and will help us to become the true vehicle of
change in rural India.
We
are building an independent, self-reliant economy. We have
already achieved much. But more hard work is required from
everyone - from scientists and technologists, from the public
sector, from the private sector, form industrial workers,
from farmers, public servants, from traders, housewives
and each one of us. We have to work hard to accelerate our
agricultural and industrial development on the basis of
our own resources. We have to produce more than we are doing
today to invest more in future progress, and to support
anti-poverty programmes. We must remember that self-reliance
and eradication of poverty demands , indeed compel, the
present generation to bear hardship and make sacrifices.
Those who are employed have a duty to the future of India.
They have to be more productive and consume less so that
resources can be made available for investment and for programmes
to help poor. This is a national duty - a patriotic duty.
Our
life styles must change, Vulgar, Conspicuous consumption
must go. Simplicity, efficiency and commitment to national
goals hold the key to self-reliance. The Congress Ministers,
Members of Parliament, Members of State Assemblies, party
functionaries and leaders at all levels must set the example.
Millions of people will follow them. Austerity and swadeshi
will galvanise the masses to grow more, to produce more
and to serve more.
Above
all, we need to create a mass movement for strengthening
India's unity and integrity, for deepening our Indian ness.
The Congress, which won freedom for India, the Congress,
which has brought India to the threshold of greatness, is
pre-eminently the party of India's resurgent nationalism.
Our nationalism is based on our rich diversity of cultures,
languages and religions. The Congress represents the multi-faceted
splendour of India.
Today,
communal, casteist and regional forces, sustained by external
elements, are undermining our unity.
We
have to be on our guard. We have to carry the message of
nationalism and unity to all. We have to overcome divisive
forces. Let the saga of our freedom struggle be our inspiration.
Let thousands and thousands of Congress workers fan out
into every village, every urban centre to revive the traditions
of our glorious struggle for freedom in which, all differences
were transcended. We shall persuade. We shall educate. We
shall bind people together. But let the divisive forces
understand quite clearly that the Congress, with the strength
of the masses behind it, will crush with all its might the
designs of anti-national elements.
Friends,
A
century of achievement ends. A century of endeavour beckons
to us. Our resplendent civilization, with unbroken continuity
from the third millennium B.C. looks ahead to peaks of excellence
in the third millennium A.D.
It
falls to us to work for India's greatness. A great country
is not one, which merely has a great past. Out of that past
must arise, a glorious future.
Let
us build an India.
-
Proud of her Independence;
-
Powerful in defence of her freedom;
-
Strong, self-reliant in agriculture, industry and front-rank
technology
-
United by bonds transcending barriers of caste, creed and
religion;
-
Liberated from the bondage of poverty, and of social and
economic inequality;
An
India
-
Disciplined & efficient;
-
Fortified by ethical and spiritual values;
-
A fearless force for peace on earth;
-
The School of the world, blending the inner repose of the
spirit, with material progress;
-
A new civilization, with the strength of our heritage, the
creativity
of the spring time of youth and the unconquerable spirit
of our people.
Great achievements demand great sacrifices. Sacrifices not
only from our generation and generations gone by, but also
from generations to come.
Civilizations are not built by just one or two generations.
Civilizations are built by the ceaseless toil of a succession
of generations. With softness and sloth, civilizations succumb.
Let us beware of decadence.
We must commit ourselves to the demanding task of making
India a mighty power in the world, with all the strength
and the compassion of her great culture.
To this cause, I pledge myself.
JAI HIND.
