I mentioned Pakistan's formation yesterday, and of course today is the day that modern India came into being.
As I quoted the Pakistani National Poet Muhammad Iqbal yesterday, I suppose I can only match it by some of the finest and most stirring words ever written in English.
Jawaharlal Nehru leader of the Indian National Congress and the first Prime Minister of India gave a speech on the eve of independence which beautifully captures the exultation of the end of the century-long struggle against the Raj in India.
With your indulgence, I'd like to quote the first paragraph:
"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".
It was Nehru's passion for democracy, secularism, and liberalism that made him a champion for the poor and underprivileged not only in India, but across the Third World.
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