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 the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. We are citizens of a great country, on the verge of bold advance, and we have to live up to that high standard. All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action.
–Jawahar Lal Nehru's 'Tryst with Destiny'
Lal Bahadur Shastri
This freedom that we have gained we shall hold on to with strength. We should be prepared if anyone dares to cast an evil eye on us we should be able to counter them. Two slogans are very important to our nation. The first being ‘Jai Jawan’ and the second being ‘Jai Kisan’. I belive these two slogans are needed for our nation today.
–Lal Bahadur Shastri
Atal Behari Vajpayee, I-Day 2002
Together, we have to march, Obstacles will come, let them. Dark clouds of apocalypse will gather, let them. Even if embers smolder under our feet, Or flames rain over our heads, Smilingly, we shall light the fire, With our own hands, and burn, But together, we have to march. In laughter or in grief, in hurricanes, In immortal sacrifices beyond count, In greens or in ruins, In insults or in accolades, In pain, too, We have to thrive, Heads held high, hearts swelled with pride. Together, we have to march. Jai Hind! Jai Hind! Jai Hind!~
–Atal Behari Vajpayee, I-Day 2002
