Echoes of Freedom: Timeless Wisdom from our Freedom Fighters

I believe that if India, and through India the world, is to achieve ;real freedom, then sooner or later we shall have to live in the villages - in huts, not in palaces. I have not the slightest doubt that, but for the pair, truth and nonviolence, mankind will be doomed. That simplicity resides in the spinning wheel and what is implied by the spinning-wheel. It does not frighten me at all that the world seems to be doing in the opposite direction....village communities are the most complete and the most contended in the world.: Mahatma Gandhi.

“Constitutional morality is not a natural sentiment. It has to be cultivated. We must realize that our people have yet to learn it. Democracy in India is only a top-dressing on an Indian soil, which is essentially undemocratic. ....No minority in India has taken this sand. They have loyally accepted the rule of majority which is basically a communal majority and not a political majority. It is for the majority to realize its duty not to discriminate against minorities....The moment the majority loses the habit of discriminating against the minority, the minorities can have no ground to exist. They will vanish”: Dr B R Ambedkar speaking on the making of the Constitution.

“Political divisions, physical partitions, are external but the psychological divisions are deeper. The cultural cleavages are the more dangerous. We should not allow them to grow. What we should do is to preserve the cultural ties, those spiritual bonds which knit our people together into one organic whole. Our opportunities are great but let me warn you that when power outstrips ability, we will fall on evil days. We should develop competence and ability which would help us to utilize the opportunities which are now open to us: Dr S Radhakrishnan

“Let us resolve to create conditions in this country, when every individual will be free and provided with the wherewithal to develop and rise to his fullest stature, when poverty and squalor and ignorance and ill health will have vanished, when the distinction between highand low, between rich and poor, will have disappeared, when religion will not only be professed and preached and practised freely but will have have become a cementing force for binding man to man and to serve as a disturbing and disrupting force dividing and separating: Dr Rajendra Prasad.

On joint electorates: “I am one of those who feel that the success of democracy is to be measured by the amount of confidence that it generates in different sections of the community. I believe that every citizen in a free state should be treated in such a manner that not only his material wants but also his spiritual sense of self-respect may be fully satisfied: Govind Ballabh Pant.

“Time had come to separate religion from politics...for the proper functioning of democracy and for national unity and integrity, it was essential to root out communalism from the body politics of India. Any political party the membership of which was dependent on religion, caste, etc., could not be allowed to engage itself in any activities except those connected with the religious, cultural, social and educational needs of the community. Humanity must be our religion and service our worship”: M Ananthasayanam Ayyangar.

“We want peace. We want to avoid war. We would like to follow the policy of negotiation. We would like to be patient though, not too patient always. At the same time we must guard ourselves against following a policy of drift. We shall have to strengthen our military position (vis a vis neighbours) and we shall have to strengthen internal strength and peace and satisfactorily solve economic problem, as much by our own efforts, as with the help of others so that we can create that solidarity and stability which would be impregnable both from the national and international standpoints: Dr Shyama Prasad Mookherjee.

“Now the Prime Minister in a somewhat aggressive reply to a question that I put to him (Jawaharlal Nehru) the other day in this House said that the Government of India had decided that the Indian army should be reduced. He said the intention of the government was to have a mobile army which though smaller would be more effective than the present larger army”: Dr H N Kunzru.