NEHRU’s
VIEWS ON SECULARISM
In a speech
at Madurai on 5th October
1961, free India’s first Prime Minister, Pt Jawaharlal Nehru (14 October 1889 –
27 May 1964) said: The conception of Bharat as one great land which the people
considered a holy land has come down the ages and has joined us together, even
though we have had different political kingdoms and even though we may speak
different languages. This silken bond still keeps us together in many ways.
Throughout these thousands of years, this land
has been ours , ours in mind, ours in heart, and ours in spiritual heritage. I
who come from the north feel at home here, because I am in a part of my
country, among friends, among colleagues and among people who have the same
ideas, same thoughts and same urges.
Similarly, the north does not belong exclusively to those who live there,
but belongs to you also, even though you live in the sough of India. The
Himalayas are yours as much as they are mine, and Kanyakumari and Madurai are
mine as much as yours. This land is a common heritage of ours, where we have
been born and which we seek to serve.
Throughout the ages geography has made us one
great land, history has made us one land, the common culture has made us one
land, and our common aspirations, our common hopes and fears, victories and
defeats, have made us one. That is the past. In the present, by our common
labours, common sacrifices and common struggles, we gained the freedom of
India.
How then can we today, when we are at last
politically united and when we are a free country, allow ourselves to destroy
that unity which we have inherited and disturb that freedom which we have
struggled to achieve? The past and present have provided a common ground to us.
So also must the future be common to us, the future that we are striving to attain,
the future of millions of our people, their welfare. In whatever region we may live, this calls
for unity of purpose, unity of endeavour and sacrifice.”
On another occasion almost at the same
time :Our constitution lays down that we are a secular state, but it must be
admitted that this is not wholly reflected in our mass living and thinking. We have
not only to live up to the ideals proclaimed in our constitution, but make them
a part our thinking and living and thus build up a really integerated nation.
Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru is no longer with
us, but his views about the unity of India and her secularism are . Let us continue to embrace them.
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14th November 2022 G.R.Kanwal
