Saturday, 31 October 2020

INDIRA GANDHI’S ONE-LINERS

 

INDIRA GANDHI’S ONE-LINERS

The former Prime Minister of India (1966-77; 1980-84) Mrs. Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi, was born at Allahabad (now Prayagraj) on 19th November 1917 and  assassinated at  New Delhi on 31st October 1984.

She was the daughter of free India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru . Her son, Rajiv Gandhi(1944-1991), too was Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989. He was assassinated at Sriperumbudur, Chennai, in Tamil Nadu,  on 21st May 1991. Her second son Sanjay Gandhi ( 1946-1980) died 0n 23rd June 1980 in an air accident.    

            Both Indira Gandhi  and Rajiv Gandhi were awarded Bharat Ratna in 1971 and 1988 respectively.

            Indira Gandhi is known as the Iron Lady of India for her extraordinary courage and tremendous determination while taking action in quite hazardous domestic and international events.    

She is the author of three famous books – My Truth (1979); Eternal India (1978);On Peoples and Problems (1982).        

What follows are some concise and incisive one-liners selected from her speeches and writings .

1.The writers’ purpose is to communicate to the people their search for truth and beauty. 2. All women are teachers and guides of society. 3.The only way to have a clean war is not to have a war at all. 4. Violence is man’s main problem. 5. Universities reflect the situation which exists in the rest of society. 6. Let us be one, let us be courageous and let us march forward. 7. Tradition is itself the product of a continuous evolution. 8. No resource , natural or man-made , is usable without  technology. 9. Spring is the time and symbol of nature’s re-birth. 10. On  the issue of what  we call secularism, we can never be aligned with any party which believes in one religion or one race or one language. 11. Science and aesthetics must  go hand in hand, if our urge is to retain and embellish beauty and make this world a better place to live in. 12. Religion means certain values, and religion also means certain rituals; I believe in the values, but not in the rituals. 13. Poverty cannot be the destiny of the majority of mankind. 14. Politics is a word with strange and different meanings. 15. Power in a democracy resides with the people. 16. The present is the road between  the past and the future. 17. Modernisation cannot be imported. 18. A free Press is a basic guarantee of democracy and a vigilant guardian of every right  that free men prize. 19. The heart of India is strong and its limbs are sturdy. 20. Dead or dying ideas not only obstruct change but can  considerably harm individuals as well as nations. 21. No nation can advance merely by imitating other nations. 22.Ideals and values are timeless. 23. Your home is the only place where you can make your own rules 24. All true cultures are integrative. 25. Without courage you cannot practise any other virtue. 26. Every child has a right to health, to education, to congenial employment. 27. In numerous ways, films have contributed to fostering a sense of oneness in our country.  28. Change is inevitable, but it is in us to control its content and direction. 29. All that is born must die and all that dies must be re-born. 30. Life is never without anxiety. 31. Man has always aspired to surpass himself. 32. Agriculture constitutes the very foundation of our economy. 33. A nation on the march cannot afford to rest or grow complacent. 34. Compassion drives one on to purposeful action for the amelioration of want or suffering. 35. Quality comes from intellect, technical mastery and determination to be honest.

                                                            ……………

 

31st October 2020                                                                                           G.  R.  Kanwal         

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