New Delhi, Aug 15 (PTI) Former prime minister and Congress stalwart Jawaharlal Nehru, Hindutva idealogue V D Savarkar, Socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia and revolutionary Ashfaqulla Khan featured in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Independence Day speech on Monday. Modi also recalled contributions of tribal and women revolutionaries.
Stating that Independence Day is an opportunity for all citizens to bow down before every great personality who made sacrifices for the country’s freedom struggle, Modi mentioned the names of more than two dozen such personalities hailing from different ideologies and sections of society.
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 76th Independence Day, Modi said leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose and B R Ambedkar spent their lives on the path of duty.
It is an opportunity to remember the great personalities and take a pledge to fulfil their dreams at the earliest, he said.
“We all are grateful to Pujya Bapu (Mahatma Gandhi), Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Babasaheb Ambedkar and Veer Savarkar who spent their entire lives on the path of duty,” Modi said.
He also recalled the contributions of political personalities with varying ideologies in the freedom struggle and nation building.
“Today is an opportunity to bow down in front of those who fought the war of independence and also built the country after independence, be it Nehru ji (Jawaharlal Nehru), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Syama Prasad Mookerjee, Lal Bahadur Shastri, Deendayal Upadhyay, Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Nanaji Deshmukh, Subramania Bharati,” he said.
Modi also expressed the country’s gratefulness to freedom movement revolutionaries Mangal Pandey, Tatya Tope, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, Rajguru, Chandrashekhar Azad, Ashfaqulla Khan and Ram Prasad Bismil.
Many such innumerable revolutionaries shook the foundation of the British rule, he said.
Underlining that Indian women symbolise sacrifice and struggle, Modi said the citizens are proud of the strength of “women bravehearts of India” like Rani Lakshmibai, Jhalkaribai, Durga Bhabhi, Rani Gaidinliu, Rani Chennamma, Begum Hazrat Mahal and Velu Nachiyar.
Talking about the contributions of tribal revolutionaries in the freedom struggle, Modi said Bhagwan Birsa Munda, Sidhu, Kanhu, Alluri Sitarama Raju, Govind Guru and other countless names became the voice of freedom movement even in the remotest jungles. They became the inspiration to live and die for the motherland, he said.
He further said it was the good fortune of the country that there were many forms of the freedom struggle. In one such form Narayana Guru, Swami Vivekananda, Maharishi Aurobindo, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and many such great personalities in every corner of India kept awakening the consciousness of India. PTI JTR SMN
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