Where’s pride of being an Indian?
By P N Benjamin
Todays young Indians have no patience or interest to remember moments of national glory or national sorrow
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The Ninth of August is an occasion for introspection and re-dedication. On this day, 66 years ago, (August 9, 1942), the Indian people launched their final struggle for Independence. ‘Quit India’ was not merely their call to the British to leave the country to its fate and get out; it also was a pledge to themselves to build a brave new India in line with the dreams of the great freedom fighters.
“Here is a mantra I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. Do or Die. We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery.” (Mahatma Gandhi at the AICC session at Bombay on August 8, 1942.)
The August Movement of 1942, spontaneous and nation wide, marked the last phase of our freedom struggle. It was the culmination of the long years of struggle that started from the close of the 19th century. The petitioners started it all without knowing how fast the national movement would grow into a mighty torrent. The galling yoke of foreign rule was not allowed to thwart the personality of a true Indian. Tilak brought in militancy and awakened the collective conscience of the masses. Finally, Mahatma Gandhi introduced new techniques of the struggle against imperialism. His message reached out to the remotest corners of India at a time when communication facilities were close to zero.
And the people who responded to the Mahatma’s dramatic call across the country were the youth. Thousands of known and unknown heroes perished or survived as physical wrecks in the Andaman Islands and in jails all over the country.
But, it is not a season for nostalgia. This August 9 will roll by quietly as others before it. Ritualistic shows to mark the 66th anniversary of the Quit India Movement may be organised by the Congress party and others, but they will not evoke the romantic memories of the battle for freedom because these programmes will leave everybody cold — especially the young.
Today’s young Indians have no patience or interest to remember moments of national glory or national sorrow. The mood is to get on with life, get ahead in the struggle for survival and success. Leave it to the older generation to wax eloquent on the heroic and memorable past. But, our youth are not callous or for that matter indifferent to the nation’s political heritage. But the politics around them is so vile and banal that it is difficult for them to imagine that there was a time when the country’s air was charged with commitment, heroism and sacrifice.
Why blame the youth alone? The intelligentsia is particularly cynical. Mention of freedom fighters only makes educated Indians laugh. They lack a sense of national pride. Regardless, the Quit India Movement will remain a heroic moment in the nation’s history. That was the time that the young and the old acted passionately for the sake of freedom. They gave up comfort and careers and even lives. But, beyond a certain point it is futile to go on talking of the sacrifices of the unknown heroes of our independence struggle. These memories are too precious to be squandered on unheeding ears.
Millions of Indians like this writer with a sense of irrepressible pride of being Indian “live today in the hope that a saviour is coming, that he will be born in our midst in this poverty-shamed hovel which is India. I shall look forward to a turning in history after the cataclysm is over and the sky is again unburdened and passionless.” (Rabindranath Tagore in Crisis in Civilisation).
DECCAN HERALD, BANGALORE 9th Aug. 2008)(
