TRYST WITH DESTINY – SPEECH ON 15 AUGUST 1947 BY NEHRU
TRYST WITH DESTINY – SPEECH ON 15 AUGUST 1947 BY NEHRU
On the eve of 15th August 1947, the first Prime Minister of
India, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru, gave a famous speech addressed to the Indian
Constituent Assembly and the pupils of the country. The speech was delivered in
the intervening night of 14th and 15th August 1947 and is by far the most impressive
speeches of the 20th century.
In
his speech Pt. Nehru spoke about the responsibility of a united and progressive
nation, bestowed on the Constituent Assembly. He spoke that instead of resting
it is the time for us to move and build the nation, which our great freedom fighters
and leaders had aspired.
SPEECH ON 15 AUGUST 1947 BY NEHRU
“Tryst
with Destiny” was the title of the speech given on the midnight of 15th August
1947 by the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru just after the
independence of country. He had given speech to the Indian Constituent Assembly
in The Parliament in the midnight. The speech given by him is one of the
greatest speeches of all times focusing on the history of India and non-violent
Indian independence struggle for getting freedom from the British Empire in
India.
He
gave a message to the nation first time through his speech after independence
of the country. His speech was so much inspirational encouraging the mass
people of India for the upliftment and development. The aim of his speech was
to motivate Indian people in order to build a new and developed India through
their hard work, zeal and enthusiasm. His message was to fight and remove all
the social evils of the country such as illiteracy, ignorance, poverty, poor
health conditions, etc to lead country towards the development.
His
speech was to urge Indian people to actively participate in the nation-building
process. Through his speech he had also emphasized the concept of equality
among the Indian citizens. He paid homage to the Mother India and took pledge
to save her in every condition in the future from the rivals. He also made a
call to all the Indian citizens to show their togetherness and interest to all
the services of Motherland. Following is the exact speech given by the first
Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, on 15th of August 1947 in the midnight:
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU’S SPEECH TO THE NATION ON THE
INDEPENDENCE DAY
TRYST WITH DESTINY
“Long years ago we made a tryst
with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not
wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the
midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A
moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old
to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed,
finds utterance.
It is fitting that at this
solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her
people and to the still larger cause of humanity with some pride.
At the dawn of history India
started on her unending quest, and trackless centuries which are filled with
her striving and the grandeur of her success and her failures. Through good and
ill fortunes alike she has never lost sight of that quest or forgotten the
ideals which gave her strength. We end today a period of ill fortunes and India
discovers herself again.
The achievement we celebrate
today is but a step, an opening of opportunity, to the greater triumphs and
achievements that await us. Are we brave enough and wise enough to grasp this
opportunity and accept the challenge of the future?
Freedom and power bring
responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this assembly, a sovereign body
representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom we have
endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of
this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is
over and it is the future that beckons to us now.
That future is not one of ease
or resting but of incessant striving so that we might fulfill the pledges we
have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means
the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and
ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity.
The ambition of the greatest
man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be
beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will
not be over.
And so we have to labour and to
work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams. Those dreams are for India,
but they are also for the world, for all the nations and peoples are too
closely knit together today for anyone of them to imagine that it can live
apart.
Peace has been said to be
indivisible; so is freedom, so is prosperity now, and so also is disaster in
this one world that can no longer be split into isolated fragments.
To the people of India, whose
representatives we are, we make an appeal to join us with faith and confidence
in this great adventure. This is no time for petty and destructive criticism,
no time for ill will or blaming others. We have to build the noble mansion of
free India where all her children may dwell.
The appointed day has come –
the day appointed by destiny – and India stands forth again, after long slumber
and struggle, awake, vital, free and independent. The past clings on to us
still in some measure and we have to do much before we redeem the pledges we
have so often taken. Yet the turning point is past, and history begins anew for
us, the history which we shall live and act and others will write about.
It is a fateful moment for us
in India, for all Asia and for the world. A new star rises, the star of freedom
in the east, a new hope comes into being, a vision long cherished materialises.
May the star never set and that hope never be betrayed!
We rejoice in that freedom,
even though clouds surround us, and many of our people are sorrow-stricken and
difficult problems encompass us. But freedom brings responsibilities and
burdens and we have to face them in the spirit of a free and disciplined
people.
On this day our first thoughts
go to the architect of this freedom, the father of our nation, who, embodying
the old spirit of India, held aloft the torch of freedom and lighted up the
darkness that surrounded us.
We have often been unworthy
followers of his and have strayed from his message, but not only we but
succeeding generations will remember this message and bear the imprint in their
hearts of this great son of India, magnificent in his faith and strength and
courage and humility. We shall never allow that torch of freedom to be blown
out, however high the wind or stormy the tempest.
Our next thoughts must be of
the unknown volunteers and soldiers of freedom who, without praise or reward,
have served India even unto death.
We think also of our brothers
and sisters who have been cut off from us by political boundaries and who
unhappily cannot share at present in the freedom that has come. They are of us
and will remain of us whatever may happen, and we shall be sharers in their
good and ill fortune alike.
The future beckons to us.
Whither do we go and what shall be our endeavour? To bring freedom and
opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight
and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic
and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political
institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and
woman.
We have hard work ahead. There
is no resting for any one of us till we redeem our pledge in full, till we make
all the people of India what destiny intended them to be.
We are citizens of a great
country, on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high
standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the
children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot
encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose
people are narrow in thought or in action.
To the nations and peoples of
the world we send greetings and pledge ourselves to cooperate with them in
furthering peace, freedom and democracy.
And to India, our much-loved
motherland, the ancient, the eternal and the ever-new, we pay our reverent
homage and we bind ourselves afresh to her service. Jai Hind.”
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