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09 October, 1949: Territorial Army Established
09 October, 1949:
Territorial Army Established
December
10, 2007
New
Delhi
PM's
address at the Indian Military Academy Passing Out Parade (Excerpts)
"l
am truly delighted to be here today. It gives me great pride to review the
Passing Out Parade of the Platinum Jubilee Course of the Indian Military
Academy. This is a national institution of great importance of which the entire
nation is proud. And today is a red-letter day for this great institution. I
salute the memory of all those great soldiers and officers who had the honour
and the privilege of earning their spurs in these portals.
Nearly
sixty years ago, a few days after the passing away of the Father of Our Nation,
Lord Mountbatten gave an important message to this Academy when he said:
"It
is for the Army, more than any other organized unit in the country, both, to
set an example and to bring about the policy Mahatma Gandhi gave his life for;
that of Unified India without any communal buttress or ill feeling".
These
words ring true even today. The Indian Army is a symbol and a proud example of
the unity of our great country. It is a living example of national integration.
Each one of you is a proud soldier of India willing to perform the supreme
sacrifice for our Republic, without fear or favour, without any prejudice based
on your ethnic, religious, linguistic, regional or caste identity. You are
Indians first, and Indians last.
The
Indian Armed Forces are the best and the most shining example of "Unity in
Diversity". It is your responsibility to strengthen the values of
secularism, apolitical outlook and professionalism, which your worthy
predecessors have so painstakingly nurtured. Our Nation, our people and,
indeed, the world at large respect the professionalism of our armed forces.
The
Indian Army has a formidable image, both at home and abroad. It is an Army
known for its long martial tradition with the ethos of nationalism, patriotism
and discipline as its bedrock. Our citizens are proud of the sacrifices made by
our armed forces. We salute the Army's role in preserving our territorial
integrity, as also in serving our people during times of national calamities.
We all admire the Army for the exemplary service it has rendered and continues
to render to our nation. We admire the exemplary humanism and professionalism
of the Indian Army in providing relief and supporting rehabilitation in the aftermath
of a flood, an earthquake, a landslide or other natural calamities.
The
IMA flag has the Colours – ‘Steel Grey' and 'Blood Red' with the motto, ‘Valour
and Wisdom'. These symbolise the steel in your resolve to perform with valour
and wisdom. From Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw to Param Vir Chakras Som Nath and
Manoj Pandey, this great institution has nurtured leaders of great calibre who
have distinguished themselves in the service of our nation in war and in peace.
The
Indian Armed Forces do in fact have a message for our people and for the world
around us based on the record of their service to our nation. They have adhered
to the highest standards of professional conduct. They function with the
deepest regard for the letter and spirit of the democratic Constitution of our
secular Republic.
Our
armed forces have demonstrated to the world that it is possible for one of the
largest armies in the world, one of the oldest armies in the world and one of
the most professional armies in the world to strengthen the sinews of a
democratic society and pluralistic nation. We feel proud about this unblemished
record of professionalism of our armed forces. By strengthening the foundations
of our democracy, and defending democracy at home and abroad, through UN
Peacekeeping, you have set an example for nations and societies across the
world.
The
challenge before you today is to become more efficient and more modern in your
functioning. In the modern world a modern army is a knowledge-based force. The
application of science and technology and information technology has become an
integral part of defence preparedness and warfare. It used to be said, in a
different age, that an army moves on its belly. That was a time when brawn more
than brain, determined the power of a soldier.
In
the knowledge era, every soldier is a thinking machine. This means we need better
educated and better trained soldiers. It also means that our officers and
soldiers must be able to relate to each other as trained professionals.
Hence,
high quality training, good quality equipment and the ability to strategise and
act are essential to the success of our armed forces. Training, equipment and
organisation are keys to delivery in action….
Another
dimension of a modern army in the modern world is increased jointness in action
and in thinking. At every stage in the career of our officers and soldiers we need
greater investment in jointness in thinking and functioning. Institutions like
the Indian Military Academy, and other institutions of our armed forces, must
develop the intellectual and organisational framework for such jointness in thinking
and in action.
An
important, perhaps "the" important function of the Indian Military
Academy, and its sister institutions in the armed forces, is in fact to instil
the correct leadership values in our officers. What you have learnt here
constitutes the foundation on which you will act, you will lead and you will
learn in years to come. These values of valour, courage, camaraderie,
integrity, honesty and efficiency are fundamental values of good leadership.
The
second role of an institution like the IMA would be to instil a respect for
knowledge and learning. Constant learning and re-learning are necessary to
remain relevant in a fast changing world. I have always been impressed by the
quality of our training and management development institutions of our Armed
Forces. That is why our institutions also continue to attract students from
distant lands.
I
am happy to know that today amongst those who are passing out are members of
friendly foreign countries of Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Bhutan and Kazakhstan. I
hope each one of our guest-cadets have enjoyed their stay in India and will be
returning home with happy memories of their stay in our country. I also hope
that the training that they have received here will benefit them in the service
of their country. The bonds of friendship with fellow cadets that they have
formed here will further strengthen the bonds of friendship between our
nations.
I
extend my heartiest congratulations to the proud parents and guardians of the
cadets. Their pride is well justified; for the young men here are the
creme-de-la-creme of our great nation. The nation reposes its trust in them. It
looks to them with pride and with hope. Let me once again compliment them on
the steadiness and precision that they have shown in the parade today. I wish
them all great success in their chosen career. Finally, let me remind them of their ideal,
their duty, their Karma and their Dharma in one line, 'For the honour of
India'."
Source:
Manmohan Singh Papers, MSS, NMML
2nd October, 1869: Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi
2nd October, 1869: Birth Anniversary of
Mahatma Gandhi
To
American Friends:
Dear Friends,
As
I am supposed to be the spirit behind the much discussed and equally well
abused resolution of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress on
Independence, it has become necessary for me
to explain my position. For I am not unknown to you. I have
in America, perhaps, the largest number of friends in the West – not even
excepting Great Britain. British friends knowing me personally are more
discerning than the American. In America I am a victim of the well-known malady
called – hero worship. Good Dr. Holmes until recently of the Unity Church of
the New York, without knowing me personally, became my advertising agent. Some
of the nice things he said about me I never knew myself. So I receive often
embarrassing letters from America expecting me to perform miracles. Dr. Holmes
was followed much later by the late Bishop Fisher who knew me personally in
India. He very nearly dragged me to America but fates had ordained otherwise
and I could not visit your vast and great country with its wonderful people.
Moreover, you have given
me a teacher of Thoreau who furnished me through his essay on the ‘Duty of
Civil Disobedience’ scientific confirmation of what I was doing in South
Africa. Great Britain gave me Ruskin whose ‘Unto this Last’ transformed me
overnight from a lawyer and city-dweller into a rustic living away from Durban
on a farm three miles from the nearest railway station and Russia gave me in
Tolstoy a teacher who furnished a reasoned basis for my non-violence. He
blessed my movement in South Africa when it was in its infancy and of whose
wonderful possibilities I had yet to learn. It was he who had prophesied in his
letter to me that I was leading a movement which was destined to bring a
message of hope to the down-trodden people of the earth. So you will see that I
have not approached the present task in any spirit of enmity to Great Britain
and the West. After having imbibed and assimilated the message of ‘Unto this
Last’ I could not be guilty of approving of Fascism or Nazism whose cult is
suppression of the individual and his liberty.
I invite you to read my
formula of withdrawal or as it has been popularly called ‘Quit India’ with this
background. You may not read into it more than the context warrants.
I claim to be a votary of
truth from my childhood. It was the most natural thing to me. My prayerful
search gave me the revealing maxim “Truth is God” instead of the usual one “God
is Truth”. That maxim enables me to see God face to face as it were. I feel him
pervade every fibre of my being. With this Truth as witness between you and me,
I assert that I would not have asked my country to invite Great Britain to
withdraw her rule over India, irrespective of any demand to the contrary, had I
not seen at once that for the sake of Great Britain and Allied cause it was
necessary for Britain boldly to perform the duty of freeing India from bondage.
Without this essential act of tardy justice Britain could not justify her
position before the unmurmuring World Conscience, which is not vocal but which
is there nevertheless. Singapore, Malaya and Burma taught me that the disaster
must not be repeated in India. I make bold to say that it cannot be averted
unless Britain trusts the people of India to use their liberty in favour of the
Allied cause. By that supreme act of justice Britain would have taken away all
cause for the seething discontent of India. She will turn the growing illwill
into active goodwill. I submit that it is worth all the battleships and
airships that your wonder-working engineers and financial resources can
produce.
I know that interested
propaganda has filled your ears and eyes with distorted versions of the
Congress position. I have been painted as a hypocrite and enemy of Britain
under disguise. My demonstrable spirit of accommodation has been described as
my inconsistency proving me to be an utterly unreliable man. I am not going to
burden this letter with proof in support of my assertions. If the credit I have
enjoyed in America will not stand me in good stead, nothing I may argue in self
defence will carry conviction against the formidable but false propaganda that
has poisoned American ears.
You have made common
cause with Great Britain. You cannot therefore disown responsibility for anything
that her representatives do in India. You will do a grievous wrong to the
Allied cause, if you do not shift the truth from the chaff whilst there is yet time.
Just think of it. Is there anything wrong in the Congress demanding
unconditional recognition of India’s Independence? It is being said, ‘But this
is not the time’. We say, ‘This is the psychological moment for that
recognition’. For then and then only can there be irresistible opposition to
Japanese aggression. It is of immense value to the Allied cause, if it is also
of equal value to India. The Congress has anticipated and provided for every
possible difficulty in the way of recognition. I want you to look upon the
immediate recognition of India’s Independence as a war measure of first class magnitude.
I
am,
Your
friend,
M.K.
Gandhi:
On the way to
Bombay
3.8.1942:
Source:
M.K. Gandhi Papers (Pyarelal) (XV Inst.), MSS, NMML
2nd October, 1904: Birth Anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri
2nd October, 1904: Birth Anniversary of Lal
Bahadur Shastri
Shastriji -As Conciliator
Second October is a doubly important,
auspicious day for the people of India: the one, the birthday of a truly great
man of our time of whom Einstein, the eminent scientist said, "generations
to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood
walked upon this earth’’. The other, the birthday of a man of humble origin who
by his character and dedicated service became the First Minister of the Union
Government of India. Even though his tenure was all too brief-cut off by sudden
death - Lal Bahadur Shastri did make an impact on his people and contributed to
national progress.
What was Shastriji’s out standing
contribution or achievement? He embodied what might be called the best in Hindu
temperament in his attitude and approach to problems and relations with men. He
was modest, cautions, tentative, tolerant; he was prepared to listen to views
different and opposite to his own, try to learn from them without giving up his
own basic stand. Succeeding a national figure like Jawaharlal Nehru, he had to
be wary in his steps, watch carefully the trends and forces and movements at home and abroad. He did not wish
to do something spectacular and stagger mankind. Indeed, he had already too
many serious and complex problems economic and regionals to be able to take up a
heroic pose. Food, economic growth, controversy over language, were all there
as legacies and to be faced by a party torn by internal dissensions. The
Chinese episode in the autumn of 1962 had affected the nation's prestige and
self-confidence. Pakistan was, as ever, a disturbing and unpredictable element.
Shastriji faced these formidable problems
as they arose coolly and calmly. He was patient not in the sense of resigning
himself to forces beyond his control or permitting events to work themselves
out and find solution. His patience had an element of persistence and
perseverance. He did not wait patiently for “something to turn up”. But on one
point he was clear. He felt that in a vast country with so many divergences of
religion, community and language, unity had to be obtained the hard way. It
could not be taken for granted or imposed from above. In other words, he wanted
to evolve as far as possible a consensus through consultations with his party
as well as opposition leaders. That was not a sign of weakness but of strength.
Conflict of interests and opinions is the essence of free political life….
...Shastriji had a broad and impartial
mind which was constantly struggling….He recognised, perhaps instinctively, the
value of the politics of consensus. But it takes more than mere ingenuous
tactics or clever manoeuvring to achieve and maintain a worthwhile consensus. And
an enduring consensus cannot be built up by ignoring or blurring vital issues. If
Shastriji did not always succeed, it was not for want of trying.
It was on the international plane, however,
that Shastriji evinced his quality of firmness and resilience. It is in such
crises as he had to face in the summer of 1965 in the Rann of Kutch and in the
autumn that year on the Punjab-Kashmir border that he rose to the occasion. Opportunity
may make a man but it can also unmake him. In a very real sense, during such
crucial events a statesman and his methods are put to severe test. It is at
such times also that reputations are made and enhanced or reduced and shattered.
Shastriji on these two occasions had the final authority and bore the ultimate
responsibility. I believe that he showed courage and statesmanship in standing
by the Kutch agreement and the earlier pact of distribution of the waters of
the Indus basin in face of criticism. And while his conduct of the unfortunate
conflict with Pakistan evoked the admiration and respect of his countrymen, he
never turned bellicose or allowed fanaticism and hatred to pre-dominate. He
emphasised the limited objectives of the conflict which had been imposed upon
our country and which had nothing to do with a destruction or conquest of
Pakistan. And if Shastriji has a place in history, it is because of the way he
handled this war and equally, the subsequent peace at Tashkent. It is easy to
pour scorn on the sincere endeavour to arrive at an honourable settlement with a
neighbouring country which has been consistently hostile. But while we may be
able to choose our allies, we cannot unfortunately choose our neighbours. Shastriji
recognized, as peoples and leaders have to do sooner or later, that we have to
live with many of our problems, that unhappily there are no quick, easy and
satisfactory solutions in international relationship. Conciliation when done
without sacrifice of essential interests is not surrender. It is demagogic to
condemn every kind of compromise or adjustment with other countries as “appeasement”.
Shastriji did not appease Pakistan at Tashkent. What he did was to recognise
that the common interests of two neighbouring countries which were part of one
and a decade and a half ago, should have precedence over their differences,
that development of both was more vital for their mass of people than violent
conflicts engendering bitterness and hatred….If the Tashkent accord has not
worked out as Shastriji and all reasonable people in both countries hoped and wished,
the fault was surely not his. The Tashkent agreement has no built-in weaknesses;
it is singularly unfortunate that the Pakistan leaders have not lived up to it or
imbibed its spirit.
The hour of triumph, said Gandhiji on a
historic occasion, is the hour of humility. For Shastriji, Tashkent was the
hour of his moral victory- victory not only over the armed forces of Pakistan
but, what is not less important, over the evils of hatred and fanaticism. And
yet this hour was also the moment of his sudden and untimely departure and of
deep and genuine sorrow for his countrymen. He signed a peace pact, so to speak,
with his own blood. For him, popular affection was stronger than a fortress. He
had secured his place in the hearts of the people because he was one of them. It
has been said that a politician must never forget that he is just one of the
common folk. Shastriji, whatever his errors and limitations, never forget this;
he never lost touch with the common man not did he encourage hero-worship or
try to build up a personality cult. In politics what is believed is more
important than what is propagated. And people believed in Lal Bahadur Shastri. Great
man expect perhaps some prophets of old or saints do not have the character of
simplicity. Shastriji was by no means as simple as he seemed. But he endeavoured
to be true to himself and was, therefore, not
false to any other man. He may
have been right or wrong on specified issues but so far as I know, he was never
on the side of wrong.
The last enemy of Shastriji faced, as we
all have to some day, was death. But death, too, revealed his poise and
serenity and it could be said of him-he ran
the race too quickly at the end but he kept to the course; fate did not
spare him but he kept his faith with his fellowmen.
____________________________________
Excerpts from a talk given
by Shri G.L. Mehta
over the All India Radio,
on
October 2, 1967
Source: C. Rajagopalachari Papers, MSS, NMML
02 October, 1904: Lal Bahadur Shastri’s Birthday
02 October, 1904: Lal
Bahadur Shastri’s Birthday
Press Release
No
greater calamity could have befallen this country at this time. In his brief
captainship of the nation, Lal Bahadurji had pulled this country out of a
terrible psychological morass and restored its self-respect and
self-confidence. His quiet courage, his wisdom, his humility gave his
leadership a quality that would be difficult to equal for many generations to
come. The Tashkent concord would remain not only an imperishable monument to
his dedication to peace and friendship among nations but also mark a turning
for the peoples of the sub-continent from the darkness of the past 18 years to
the light of the future. May those who have followed him not allow that light
to be dimmed any more.
NAWADAH (Sign)
JAYAPRAKASH
NARAYAN
11.1.66
Source: J.P. Narayan (III Instalment), MSS, NMML
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