পাতা:বাংলাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্র (দ্বাদশ খণ্ড).pdf/১৮৫

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বাংরাদেশের স্বাধীনতা যুদ্ধ দলিলপত্রঃ দ্বাদশ খণ্ড
১৫৯
শিরোনাম সূত্র তারিখ
প্যারিসে রাষ্ট্রীয় ভোজসভায় প্রধানমন্ত্রী ইন্দিরা গান্ধীর ভাষণ ভারত সরকারের পররাষ্ট্র মন্ত্রণালয় ৮ নভেম্বর, ১৯৭১

PRIME MINISTER INDIRA GANDHI’S SPEECH AT A STATE

LUNCHEON, PARIS-NOVEMBER 8, 1971

 I am touched by your kind words and I thank you-and through you, France-for the hospitality and friendliness. A year ago, I came in haste and in sorrow to attend the memorial service for General de Gaulle. He was a man great stature, who embodied the honor of France at a time of trial. We in India respect and salute him.

 We all have deep feelings for France. France, like India, is more than a country-it is an idea. Throughout history, your nation and mine have known triumphs and tragedies, but have always tried to maintain certain values of civilization. In the last few centuries, the world owes much to the creative spirit of the French people-in art and science, philosophy and literature and politics. France has taught us that liberty is the goal and condition of man's life, and law and logic the means to progress. Nowhere are the issues of man’s fate more poignantly and passionately discussed than in your country. France has not been content to seek its glory at the cost of the good of man.

 The achievement of Indian civilization is its persistence over thirty centuries. This survival has been possible because of tolerance, the power of assimilation and the belief that the values of life are more important than power and position.

 After many vicissitudes, we are once again in the mainstream of history. We are engaged in overcoming the stagnancy perpetuated by years of feudalism and colonial rule when we were deprived of industrial, technological and social change. The results achieved in a democratic society may appear less impressive than those of a controlled society because of voices of dissent and discontent, and the absence of organized propaganda. Yet we believe that democracy is the surer and more effective method, for it gives strength to the people.

 Freedom arouses expectations, and democracy encourages competition. The first gains in development have produced new tensions. People sometimes take advantage of smaller loyalties to region and religion which abound in a vast and varied country such as ours. We are trying to lessen the disparities between different sections and to give greater opportunities to the small man. We have many minorities. They enjoy full rights as minorities and as citizens. We would certainly like our society to benefit from technology, but we do not want to be imprisoned by technological structures. We have no wish to re-enact the experiences of the West our national personality must evolve in its own way. Increasing material affluence does not seem to have satisfied man's deepest yearnings. Society must be imbued with the values which will enable man to find fulfillment and to enjoy his world.