By Zile Singh                                                                                    

Ambassador (Retd.)                                                   

                                           Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav – My Story

                  (75th Anniversary of India’sIndependence)

More than a year-long campaign for celebration of ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ by the government of India and her Missions Abroad concluded on August 15, 2022. It started on March 12, 2021, as a 75-week countdown to India’s 75thanniversary of Independence. On March 12, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi started Salt Satyagraha famously known as Dandi March. 

The Consulate General of India, Vancouver (Canada) also organised several events befitting the occasion throughout the year.   I have been a part of some of these memorable moments.  To Celebrate Constitution Day on November 26, 2021, jointly by the Indian Consulate and the Chetna Association of Canada is noteworthy.  I was honoured with Dr. Ambedkar’s Lifetime Achievement Award for inspiring marginalized communities, being a role model and advancing values of equality by receiving higher education and entering public service. My columns in The Link weekly newspaper and Desibuzzcanada.com entitled “International Day of Yoga”, “Freedom has Responsibility”, “Human Rights”, “Terrorism” and other subjects related to Indian life and legacy remained worth reading. Articles on the Abolition of Article 370 and the Citizenship Amendment Act were supportive of government decisions. The finale was on August 15, 2022, by hosting a reception and a cultural programme followed by a dinner by the Consul General at Empire Banquet Hall in Surrey and a Concert on the 16th at Michael J. Fox Theatre, Burnaby. These events went off very well earning a laud applause of hundreds of attendees of all hues. It is not out of place to mention that the outreach of the Indian Consulate, Vancouver to the diaspora under its jurisdiction remained tremendous and praiseworthy during the year. 

Independence and Freedom are synonyms.  Independence is the most desired instinct of any living being.  Even air and water do not want their free flow to be restricted in any manner.  Man needs freedom the most. Because ‘Freedom is the oxygen of the soul’. – Moshe Dayan. Independence in hell is better than slavery in heaven.   The history of Indian independence is as old as a century - tough and tedious with thousands of lives sacrificed at its altar.  It is unique in a manner that it was fought mainly on the principle of ‘non-violence and satyagraha’. Today, Satyamev Jayate (truth only triumphs) is the motto of the Indian democratic system.  After trials, tribulations, commissions and conferences, India got independence from under the British yoke on August 15, 1947.  Here is an evergreen excerpt from the speech, “Tryst with Destiny” delivered by the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru on that occasion. 

“……Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially.  At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.  A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance…

…The ambition of the greatest man of our generation* has been to wipe every tear from every eye.  That may be beyond us, but so long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.   And so, we have to labour and to work, and work hard, to give reality to our dreams.  Those dreams are for India, but they are also for the world.” 

*The greatest man of our generation refers to Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Indian Nation.

After independence, successive governments of India have tried to ameliorate the wellbeing of all Indian citizens irrespective of religion, region, caste and creed through democratic and secular legislations. Pro-poor schemes have gone a long way to address the suffering of the impoverished sections of society.  To a large extent it has given air to the suppressed voice of the oppressed.  Unfortunately, there has been an instance when the fundamental freedoms of the people were put on the back burner leading to a national emergency.  However, it could not last long.  Lately, the dynastic rule for decades was also done away with by the electorates in a nonviolent democratic way.  A dramatic change took place giving an opportunity to something new. The incumbent Prime Minister and his team’s vision towards ‘sab ka saath, sab ka vikas and sab ka viswas’ is a popular theme of their governance.  Less government and more governance are the goals.  Many schemes in the fields of agriculture, health, housing, education, defence, space, international relations etc.   are on the progress. A renewal ofthe old rut and complacency is the prime focus.  In a way it seems like finding the soul of a nation. We hope to see India not in too distant a future, but soon, in the first row of the comity of nations.   For developmental schemes to bear fruit, peace, harmony and fraternity at home and good friendly relations abroad are required. Performance-based bureaucracy is a sine quo non for it.  Despite hiccups here and there, things seem fair. We are passing through an era where it is wiser to bear the knife of the surgeon and have a sigh of relief in the long run than to stay stale under the spell of lethargy and status quo. The recent elections of the new President and Vice President of India is a milestone in the direction set out by the harbingers of Indian independence and the framers of the Indian Constitution.  Two Presidents in succession from the weakest section of society and a Vice President from a farmer’s community rings a sound bell.  What else did the citizens of India need during this festive year of “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav”?  It can be called one of the best befitting actions – the first in the history of independent India. 

  About freedom, it is said, “Nobody can give you freedom.  Nobody can give you equality and justice.  If you are a man, you have to take it.”  Also, “A sick man is not to be pitied who has his cure in his sleeve.”  Once freedom is achieved, it can only be sustained with responsibility and reasonable restrictions.  Freedom without reasonable restrictions leads to chaos and lawlessness.  It becomes a form of anarchy.  Also, constructive criticism is the fodder for healthy democracy and diversity.  Diversity is one of the major strengths of India.  That is why India is called a ‘subcontinent’. Inputs from the common man as well as from the experts are necessary for smooth governance.  Chanakya, the king maker and master of all subjects, advised, ‘Arriving in the assembly hall, he (king) should allow unrestricted entrance to those wishing to see him in connection with their affairs.’ Constructive criticism is essential for any functional democracy.  In the absence of it, a democratic system leads to despotism.  Between good governance and protests, there is a pious space. That ‘pious space’ is a genuine dialogue.  Dialogue can dissolve the hardest matter. Over these 75 years, India proudly wears the tag of ‘the largest functional democracy of the world’. 

With Indian independence, came the Indian Constitution.  The Constitution enshrined in it an affirmative actionclause and the Directive Principles of State Policy. These have been instrumental to wipe out the tears of the man standing last in line.  Millions of people of lower background were at the far end of political, social and economic hierarchy.  Today, they can boast of being the First Citizens of India, Cabinet Ministers, Governors, Chief Ministers, top bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, professors, thinkers and writers.  The reason why I dedicate my story to “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav” is as follows:

 I was born the same day India got independence.  Though, as per school records my date of birth is June 14, 1949.   Mine was a poor sharecropper’s family in a small village, Pinana, district Sonipat in Haryana, a State carved out from Punjab after its division into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.  Prior to me, nobody in my family had seen the door of a classroom. So much so that I reached the gate of the school on the first Sunday after my admission.  I found the gate closed. No one knew in the family that school remains closed on Sundays. I came back home after a passerby told me.  Despite my frail physique and weak eyesight ( -5 in both eyes from early childhood), I was good at studies. Once or twice, there were bouts of dizziness in the classroom, perhaps due to malnutrition.  I joined government service as a Clerk in December 1967 after passing the Matriculation Examination from Punjab University, Chandigarh with flying colours (695/900).  A rare result in 1965. While in service, I earned through distance learning, a Bachelor of Arts degree (English, Ancient Indian History and Political Science), an Advanced Diploma in Spanish and a Post Graduate Diploma in Human Rights. I also passed four Departmental Exams at different stages for quick promotions.  In addition to my hard work, my seniors, colleagues and juniors also extended their guidance and helping hands whenever needed.  My Ambassador in the Philippines wrote about me, “You stood with me like a rock.  I was proud to have an officer like you.”   Another, in a warlike situation in Herat (Afghanistan) wrote, “I have not seen such a fair and fearless officer.”  In public dealings, the High Commissioner in Ottawa wrote, “In the Consular Section, as usual we hear complaints from the public.  On the contrary, there are people who have showered praise on Mr. Singh’s work.”   It will not be out of place to mention that in 1974, my Ambassador in Vientiane (Laos) who was of Indian Foreign Service Batch of 1949 said to me, “Mr. Singh, you will retire as an Ambassador.”  Thank God, this was prophetic. 

I have an eventful life to look back on.  From a Clerk to an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the government of India is the result of the affirmative action, a by-product of Indian Independence. After serving in the Indian Foreign Service (Year of Allotment -1984) in nine countries and at the Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi in different capacities, I retired in June 2009. I served in Laos, Nepal, United Kingdom, Panama, Finland, Philippines, Afghanistan, Canada and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).  Since June 2014, I have been settled in Vancouver (Canada). I spend my time reading, writing, meeting people and playing golf. I am a Vipassana meditator, married for 53 years, having a son in Vancouver, a daughter in Singapore and another in London.   Diversity, the strength of India, taught me to be an advocate of multicultural, multi-religious and multi-racial values.  

During the year of celebrations, I have written some short, secular, inspirational, self-help sort and apolitical essays spreading over 150 pages as my dedication to “The 75th Anniversary of India’s Independence, also coined in Hindi as “Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav.” These Essays, in the form of a book, will come into print in the next few months.  

To sum up: To gain freedom is hard. To sustain it is even harder. While celebrating the conclusion of the 75th anniversary of our independence, let us take a pledge to work hard to safeguard national integrity, independence, sovereignty and diversity.  Jai Hind.

Zile Singh is a well respected Columnist, Writer and a Vipassana Meditater. He has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Rights.  He can be reached at zsnirwal@yahoo.ca