New Delhi
While President Droupadi Murmu hailed India’s tribal heroes, she also remembered BR Ambedkar saying “by the year 2047, we will have fully realised the dreams of our freedom fighters. We will have given a concrete shape to the vision of those who, led by Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar, drafted the Constitution. We are already on course to build an Atmanirbhar Bharat, an India that would have realised its true potential”.
“Our glorious Freedom Struggle was waged bravely across the vast territory of our country. Many great freedom fighters did their duty and passed on the torch of awakening leaving little trace of their heroic deeds. Forgotten for long were many heroes and their struggles, especially among the peasant and tribal populations,” the President said.
The government’s decision last year to observe 15th November as ‘Janajatiya Gaurav Divas’ is welcome because our tribal heroes are not merely local or regional icons but they inspire the entire nation, she maintained.
She said: “India is completing 75 years as an independent nation. Fourteenth August is observed as ‘Partition Horrors Remembrance Day’ so as to promote social harmony, unity and empowerment of people. Tomorrow marks the day when we had freed ourselves from the shackles of colonial rulers and decided to reshape our destiny. As all of us celebrate the anniversary of that day, we bow to all those men and women who made enormous sacrifices to make it possible for us to live in a free India.”
Highlighting the virtues of democracy and women empowerment, she said, “We Indians proved the skeptics wrong. Democracy not only grew roots in this soil, it was enriched too. In most other well-established democracies, women had to wage long-drawn struggles to get the right to vote. But India adopted universal adult franchise right since the beginning of the Republic. Thus, the makers of modern India enabled each and every adult citizen to participate in the collective process of nation-building. Thus, India can be credited to have helped the world discover the true potential of democracy.”
The President praised India’s fight against Covid citing the 200-crore-plus vaccination record; the ongoing Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav and Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan, an Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Government’s schemes like Pradhan Mantri Gati-Shakti Yojana. Digital India, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana besides the National Education Policy.
“India’s new-found confidence stems from the spirit of its youth, its farmers, and above all, its women,” she said adding gender inequalities are reducing and women are moving ahead, breaking many glass ceilings. “Their increasing participation in social and political processes will prove decisive. At the grassroots level, we have more than 14 lakh elected women representatives in Panchayati Raj Institutions,” Murmu, the second woman President of India after Pratibha Patil, outlined.
She quoted nationalist poet Kuvempu, who enriched Indian literature through Kannada language, recalling his clarion call for making total sacrifice for the motherland and upliftment of fellow citizens. “To follow these ideals is my special appeal to the youth of the country who are going to build the India of 2047,” she urged to conclude Droupadi Murmu was last month elected as India’s 15th President. She defeated joint Opposition candidate and former Union Minister Yashwant Sinha.
