THE FATHER OF THE NATION
A talk broadcast from New Delhi on the occasion of the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday, October 2, 1948.

Friends and comrades, what shall I say to you on this day which is specially dedicated to the memory of him whom we call the Father of the Nation? I shall not speak to you today as Prime Minister of India but as Jawaharlal, a pilgrim like you in India’s long journey to freedom and one whose high privilege it was to learn the service of India and of truth at the feet of the Master. Nor will I say much to you about the problems of the day, which fill our minds and demand our continuous attention. Rather I would like to speak about those basic things which Gandhiji taught us and without which life would be superficial and empty. He taught us the love of truth and straight dealing not only in our individual lives but also in public affairs and in the inter¬ course of nations. He taught us the dignity of man and of man’s labour. He repeated the old lesson that, out of hatred and violence, nothing but hatred and violence and destruction can result. And so he taught us the way of fearlessness, of unity, of tolerance and of peace.

How far have we lived up to this teaching? Not very far, I fear. And yet we learned much and under his guidance we achieved our country’s freedom by peaceful methods. But at the very moment of deliverance we became forgetful and strayed into evil ways, causing infinite pain to that great heart which throbbed continuously for India and for the great truths that India has embodied through ages past.

What of today? When we remember him and praise him, and sometimes childishly talk of putting up statues to him, do we give thought to the great message for which he lived and died? I fear all of us are still very far from living up to that message. But I do believe that the great forces that he set in motion are working silently but powerfully to move India in the direction of his wishes. There are other forces also, forces of disruption and untruth and violence and narrow-mindedness, which work in the opposite direction. Between the two there is unceasing conflict, as between the forces of good and evil there is conflict all over the world. If we honour the memory of Gandhiji, we must do so actively by working ceaselessly for the causes he represented.

I am proud of my country, proud of my national inheritance, proud of many things, but I speak to you not in pride but with all humility. For events have humbled me and often shamed me and the dream of India that I have had has sometimes grown dim. I have loved India and sought to serve her not because of her geographical magnitude, not even because she was great in the past, but because of my faith in her today and my belief that she will stand for truth and freedom and the higher things of life.

Do you want India to stand for these great aims and ideals which Gandhiji placed before us? If so, then you will have to think and act in accordance with them and not allow yourself to be carried away by the passion of the moment or by thoughts of petty advantage. You will have to root out every tendency that weakens the nation, whether it is communalism, separatism, religious bigotry, provincialism or class arrogance.

We have said repeatedly that we will not tolerate any communalism in this country and that we are building a free secular State, where every religion and belief has full freedom and equal honour, where every citizen has equal liberty and equal opportunity. In spite of this, some people still talk in the language of communalism and separatism. I want to tell you that I am entirely opposed to this and I expect you likewise to oppose it with all your might, if you have faith in Gandhiji’s teaching.

Another evil is that of provincialism and of that we see a great deal today running riot and forgetting the larger issues. That also has to be opposed and combated.

Some people have recently called India an aggressor nation. I can only say that they spoke in ignorance. If India took to the ways oh aggression against any other nation, there would be no place left for me and for many of my colleagues in the Government of India. If we indulged in aggression, we should be false to all that we have stood for and all that Gandhiji taught us.

Our neighbour country, Pakistan, has exhibited a strange fever during the past weeks. I have been astonished to read its newspapers and the public utterances of its leaders, utterances which have no relation to fact but foster wild fears and fantasies. If the people of Pakistan have to read this literature of hatred and fear from day to day, I am not surprised that they should form a picture of India in their minds which is completely divorced from reality. I deeply regret this, for as I have said before, I cannot think of the people of Pakistan as strangers. They have been our countrymen, and neither they nor we can rid ourselves of the past or forget our close kinship, however much momentary passions may seem to divide us. I would like to utter, in all earnestness and friendship, a note of warning to those who are carrying on an unscrupulous propaganda against India in Pakistan. They are doing an ill service to their own country and to their own people.

I can assure the people of Pakistan that India has no aggressive designs against any country, least of all against Pakistan. We want Pakistan to live in peace and to progress and to. have the closest ties with us. There never will be aggression from our side.

But there has been aggression of a brutal and unforgivable kind, aggression against the people of Kashmir and against the Indian Union. We met that aggression as any self-respecting country was bound to meet it. Memories are short and it is well to remember what happened a little more than eleven months ago in Kashmir. Pakistan denied its complicity and, even in the face of incontrovertible facts, continued to deny it. It built up its case in the Security Council of the United Nations on this denial and now it has had to admit that its armies are operating in Kashmir which is Indian Union territory. History offers few parallels of a case built up so greatly on a complete denial of truth. The United Nations Commission proposed a truce. We accepted it. Pakistan in its pride and arrogance rejected it.

I want to tell you as well as the people of Pakistan, and now I speak to you as the Prime Minister of India that on no account, and whatever happens, are we going to submit to this aggression. We shall fight it to the utmost, for it involves not only the freedom of Kashmir but also the honour of the Indian people and respect for the law of nations.

Many things have happened in India during the past year or more which have deeply pained me because they were evil and a falling away from the teachings of the Master. But I have no regret for what we did and are doing in Kashmir and Hyderabad. Indeed, if we had not done what we did and are doing in Kashmir and Hyderabad, there would have been infinitely greater trouble and violence and misery. I would have been ashamed of India if she had not run to the rescue of Kashmir, or gone to the aid of the people of Hyderabad who were being crushed by an unscrupulous clique.

Whatever may happen in other countries, let us remain calm and let us try to remain true to Gandhiji’s teachings. If we keep faith with him, we shall keep faith with ourselves and with India, and all will be well with this country so dear to us. jai hind.