MISSION INDIA 1

Today we are standing at the crossroads of our national evolution when we must make a choice. It is not merely a political choice through the ballot but a selection far more crucial that involves our entire beings for in it are pregnant the seeds of our future possibilities as a nation and as a vast people, a veritable continent of communities and races. The Britishers have departed truncating our Motherland on either side along communal lines which were never so divisive as they were under the overseeing of the British. India gained her freedom but the birth-pangs were so excruciating that even today we can hear the echoes of the operation along the borders and in the very heartland of the Motherland. A permanent wedge it seems has been driven into the body of our Mother and she suffers and suffers and we her children do nothing about it. So, I said, time it is to take stock of the situation and take a stand on what we choose to do about her future and how we choose to go about achieving it.

A nation is being built from the ashes of the dead past. We are the descendants of the ones the foreigner held in bondage till the other day. We are the inheritors of their legacy, their suffering, their sacrifice. Our forefathers have passed on this precious gift of our Motherland to us in fullest faith that we will be worthy of our inheritance, that we shall overcome all challenges and keep our Mother in our safe-keeping. Indian independence was not won solely by non-violent means although non-violence was the major force operative behind the cohesion of the freedom movement. A lot of blood did flow out of the bodies of our martyrs and of those who did not find favour with the God of India's destiny to become martyrs. India bled to freedom. And India bleeds even today for the seeds of dissension that were sown in days of yore are bearing their fruits now.

A new generation of young aspirant Indians are coming up from the womb of Time with dreams of a brighter future for the Motherland. Their hopes and aspirations are changing the face of India and tending to usher in a new age of prosperity and light for all. But the country is beset with a million maladies and these will have to be treated before a brighter dawn may set in and the nation may bask in the noonshine of her glory. Thus had I mentioned at the outset that we need to seriously make a choice as to what ought to be the character of our nationhood and accordingly chart out the course of our future national evolution. Jai Hind !