The
Dawn of Freedom*
BY S. R. KAIWAR, M.A., I.C.S.
This is the proudest day in my life. Fourteen days
ago I stood before you on the self-same rostrum. On that day, a different flag
flew over this building. Today flies the Flag of Freedom. Today, I stand before
you as the representative of a free, though truncated, India. In all my
wanderings through this life of care, I never dreamt that our India would be
free so soon; would so soon be able to hold its head erect among the nations of
this world and be able to deal with them on terms of equality and dignity that
can only spring from Independence at home. And more, I never dreamt that it
would fall to my lot to stand before an erudite and scholarly audience such as
faces me today at this, the proudest hour in our lives.
A momentous and epochal hour of this kind is
peculiarly suited for looking back, for looking forward, and for taking stock.
Looking back into the near distance, we find many who have fallen by the
wayside that others may march on. We find many who have given their all that
others may keep; their all. Many who have sacrificed everything they possessed,
that others might keep everything they possessed. Many who have lost their
liberty so that the country may gain its. No praise is too great for such
colossal sacrifice, so selfless and so majestic. Our hearts go out in silent
prayer in memory of those souls whose lives and achievement we shall cherish
for all time. And towering above them all stands that great, frail old man
whose single contribution to this struggle for Freedom is as incomparable as it
is immeasurable! It was he who canalised the prevailing sense of despair and
frustration, and, out of the very helplessness of the nation, forged a weapon
so strong that this country has achieved its independence without a shot being
fired. Contemplating the past, and the part played by this great and noble
soul, I am reminded of the words of the poet who said: -
“To suffer woes which hope thinks infinite;
To forgive wrongs darker than Death or night;
To defy Power which seems omnipotent;
To love and bear; to hope till Hope creates
From its own wreck the thing it contemplates;
Neither to change, nor falter, nor repent;”
This is the glory, this the life, this the joy and victory of the great
man.
Looking further into the distant past, we find a
great country containing great and noble sons, due to whose achievements the
name of India became synonymous with learning and wealth limitless,–learning
and wealth so limitless that both scholars and fortune-hunters from many lands
flocked into the country for what she could give, and for what they could
take away.
This country survived all trials and tribulations,
because the inner core of the heart of the common man was sound. This country
survived because of the culture, the training, the self-abnegation, the
self-sacrifice and many other great virtues imbibed by the common folk of this
land. Our culture has survived the fanaticism of the invading hordes; it has
survived the insidious underminings of the more polished conquerors of a later
era. I am proud, I am sure we are all proud, to be the children of such a
country. With the removal of the inhibitions on the free expression of her
soul, and the unrestricted scope that Freedom provides for her development
along the lines of her national genius, I am sure she will yet surpass herself.
And I am sure that once more, as always in the past, she will provide a natural
blending of conflicting trends, so that the children and grandchildren of this
generation will forget their strife and learn to forgive one another’s wrongs,
and live like a great, big, happy family.
In this hour of fulfillment of our cherished
desire, many of us would be asking ourselves what it is that each one of us
should do to deserve the good fortune of being citizens of this country.
Although I lay no claim to superior wisdom, I venture to suggest for your
consideration the motto “to serve”. It was another great and intrepid fighter
for Freedom who said: “To dare, and again to dare, and without end to dare.” I
commend for acceptance the motto: “To serve, and again to serve and without end
to serve.” It should be service offered in the same selfless spirit of that
great, frail man I referred to a few moments ago. Each one of us, in one’s walk
of life, can by one’s conduct and spirit of service, help to let this country
achieve the greatness that is yet her due. I believe in the future greatness of
this country as I believe in her past greatness; as I believe in God and as I
believe in myself.
To those of you in the Civil Services, whether it
be the superior services or the subordinate services, whether it be the Police
or the Registration the Agricultural or the Revenue, or anyone of the
miscellaneous or multitudinous departments that compose a complex
administration of modern days, the motto of service simply means that you carry
out your day-to-day duties, that you implement the policies of the Government
of the day that has been installed in power by the system of Parliamentary
Democracy that is in vogue today; it
means that you do your duty with integrity, without fear or favour, unmoved by
‘influence’, untrammeled by ‘fear’. If this hard and narrow path proves to be
too hard and thorny, jeopardising one’s progress or one’s career, one needs
must accept it in the same spirit of selfless sacrifice in which the fighters
for Freedom offered up their lives on the altar of achievement. It is better
that the few suffer so that the many may live, rather than that the services of
this country should be called inefficient, obstructive, corrupt, or inept. To
the more fortunate of us who may soon serve in places where advice has to be
tendered to those in the seat of power, my humble submission is that such
advice should be tendered fearlessly. One should never trim one’s sails to suit
the prevailing wind; should not suppress what one honestly feels to be in the
best interests of the country, for fear that such opinion is unpalatable and
unwelcome to those in the seat of authority. For by doing so, we deny the
country the benefit of having that particular aspect carefully examined, which,
had it been brought to notice in good time, might have averted avoidable misery
and suffering. But this fearless freedom to tender advice carries with it
certain grave and onerous responsibilities. Once the decision is made by those
entitled to make such decisions, it has to be implemented faithfully, as if it
were the unfortunate Civil Servant’s own decision. But if things go wrong, so
long as he has done his duty, fair-play demands that he should not be made a
scape-goat.
To those among you who would soon occupy the seat
of power, my appeal is to exercise the power that a grateful country has placed
in your hands, with a spirit of tolerance, a sense of fair-play and justice,
and a breadth of vision worthy of our past heritage and worthy of the future
that will yet be ours.
There is a small minority in this audience who have
thrown in their lot with this country. It is our duty to accept their service
in the spirit in which it has been offered. Fanaticism and persecution,
injustice and foul play, never made any country great. Ours will achieve
nothing worthwhile, nothing lasting by having recourse to them. If you do not
believe me, look at Germany and Japan today.
And finally, if any of you here do not believe in
the greatness of this country, go and gaze upon the many monuments strewn about
the countryside, where our ancient rulers and law-givers, with rare foresight,
have cut words of everlasting wisdom in imperishable stone or other
indestructible media. They have left behind incomparably great works of art,
yet unsurpassed in beauty of line and form, and the level the art of a country
achieves is an unmistakable index of its greatness.
* Address delivered at the Durbar, at Cuddalore, on Independence Day.