its the lamp and build up a new society and a new humanity. Wars will come and go but our biggest task is to build up the India of our dreams.
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I LAST ADDRESSED you from this platform soon after the general Election which we had fought for certain principles and ideals, during the election campaign we put before our own people, and the world, a picture of the country’s aims and objects. And we proved to the world that our people fully understood the part they had to follow and the shape of things to come. If the earlier struggle could at all be called a war, it was a war of words and we achieved victory by vote of the people.
The war now in progress is of another kind. All those who differed with one another during the elections are today united. The people of this country, belonging to all states all religions, and speaking different languages, have put up a common front. We are fighting today for democracy and to show the world that a nation cannot be founded on the basis of religion alone. There is no country in the world today in which all the people profess only one religion. Every country has people of different religions as its citizens. The important question, therefore, is whether the minorities in the country have been given all the rights of citizenship. we are today fighting because we believe that every nation has the right freedom and to make its voice heard provided its demand is just. We are convinced that when people fight for freedom, justice and fraternity, they are bound to be victorious. Many of our brave soldiers are today fighting on our borders, many have lost their lives, and many others have been wounded. All the people of India stand behind them.
India had made good progress in recent years, we achieved a part of what we wanted to. But we know that dark days lie ahead because the danger to the country from all sides is increasing. Those who talked of democracy and raised a finger at us, saying that possibly our faith in democracy was not strong enough, have now forgotten what they used to say about us earlier. Those, who professed to be the champions of the poor and claimed that they supported all struggles for freedom, have today forgotten those principles and professions, and they are trying to coerce us.
You have just heard a song-sarfaroshi ki tamanna....... (we are prepared to lay down our lives in the cause of freedom). When I was a little girl this song was very popular all through our struggle for freedom. It used to be sung at meetings and demonstrations. Another popular song was -sarjae to jae (India must regain freedom event at the cost of our lives). These old songs have acquired a new meaning in our national life today. We are facing a big danger now. This is not because we want to grab another nation’s territory or to destroy another nation. We have no territorial ambitions, not even for an inch of another’s territory. We do not want to harm any country, whether our neighbor or some other. We know that radical changes have come about in Bangladesh, and that the demand for freedom there could not be crushed by any power of the world. We are also aware that if we allow the fire that is burning within the hearts of the patriots to be put out, it might endanger our own freedom, our democracy and our basic principles. These are precisely the reasons why we are fighting today.
