Namaste!
Greetings of the Republic Day!
I am going to share some thoughts with you
on how I see the Republic Day. When I
was your age, I used to play a lot with my brothers and boys in the
neighbourhood. I learnt two important
things on the playground. The first was
to stomach defeat. You lose, you feel
bad about it, but you are going to play again.
You aren’t going to give up, because you lost once. You try harder the next time. I didn’t find anything better than the
playground which taught me how to take defeat.
The second thing I learnt on the playground was to fight and to fight
according to rules. There were always
disputes about LBW and run out. The game
has to go on and disputes have to be ended.
If you come to blows then not only the dispute but the game would also
end. So we tried to understand the rules
and fight on that basis. We didn’t have
any umpires then. So we learnt to apply
the rules.
When I grew up, I realized that there are
always differences of opinion within the family, with friends and with people
with whom you work. Earlier I did not
like it when opinions of members differed.
Sometimes I used to stop talking with people who did not agree with
me. At other times I used to verbally
attack the other person. Then it would
be endless quarrels. The worst part was
that work would be at a standstill, while we were fighting. Then I learnt that one can debate without
having ugly fights. So now I welcome
such differences of opinion. That is the
great thing about democracy. With
different opinions, there are different ideas and there is a good chance that
better ideas would come up through discussion and debate and help all of us to
improve things.
This idea that democracy can improve things
for all of us rests on the pivot of discussion and debate. Among countries that became independent at
the same time that we did, India
stands out for its unshakable commitment to Democracy. In 1947 we became independent and on 26 Jan
1950 we became Republic
of India by adopting the
Constitution of India. Our Constitution
lays down rules of the game: how to function and how to make use of differences
of thought and action by treating diversity as the wealth of the nation. So our Constitution talks of Directive
Principles and Fundamental Rights and other provisions regarding how to achieve
progress based on principles and rights.
Whenever differences arise, these are to be dealt with in accordance
with the principles and the rights by different bodies.
So the message of the Republic Day is to
respect each other, respect differences and diversity and try to resolve them
in a democratic spirit. When you fight
do not forget to respect each other and respect the Constitution.
Long live the republic of India!
Jai Hind!
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