पाँच प्रण – Five pledges.
1. A developed Bharat.
2. Complete removal of the colonized mindset
3. Pride in our culture and civilisation
4. Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat – unity
5. Civilian Duty & Responsibility
As the Prime Minister outlined the roadmap for the next twenty-five years, he spoke about these five principles – simple yet effective. We know all of this, but just like we know that we have to maintain basic cleanliness, it took him to remind us and implement it in our daily lives as citizens.
Independence is not only about waving flags around, or singing national songs. Independence is about developing oneself to the best of one’s ability, so that we as a nation celebrate life and reach our potential as a people.
It is our duty as a human being, as a citizen, as part of society, as part of our families. Together, let us rise and take India forward towards it’s true calling as the leader of the free world.
I leave you with a few thoughts, that resonate as loudly as they did so many years back when they were written.
চিত্ত যেথা ভয়শূন্য, উচ্চ যেথা শির
জ্ঞান যেথা মুক্ত, যেথা গৃহের প্রাচীর,
আপন প্রাঙ্গণতলে দিবসশর্বরী
বসুধারে রাখে নাই খণ্ড ক্ষুদ্র করি,
যেথা বাক্য হৃদয়ের উৎসমুখ হতে
উচ্ছ্বসিয়া উঠে, যেথা নির্বারিত স্রোতে
দেশে দেশে দিশে দিশে কর্মধারা ধায়
অজস্র সহস্রবিধ চরিতার্থতায়,
যেথা তুচ্ছ আচারের মরুবালুরাশি
বিচারের স্রোতঃপথ ফেলে নাই গ্রাসি,
পৌরুষেরে করে নি শতধা, নিত্য যেথা
তুমি সর্ব কর্ম চিন্তা আনন্দের নেতা,
নিজ হস্তে নির্দয় আঘাত করি, পিতঃ;
ভারতেরে সেই স্বর্গে করো জাগরিত৷
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action—
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father let my country awake…
Rabindranath Tagore