Seventy-two years of Independence is not a small period. We need to think where have we come and where we are heading. Over seven decades ago, a Prime Minister had spoken about our tryst with destiny that culminated into Independence after a long struggle. He exhorted all Indians on the midnight of August 14, 1947, to strive hard to give reality to our dreams. He had given an idea of a new modern India, appealing to the people to join hands with him to build the noble mansion of free India where all her children may dwell in peace. He also said that all of us, whatever be our religion, are the children of India with equal rights, privileges, and obligations. He asserted that we cannot encourage communalism of narrow mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action. It is time to assess how things stand today. The present milieu is certainly not what he expected and the occasion today merits a recapitulation as well as a visualisation. The idea of India needs to be reaffirmed. The India that is a multi-religious, multi-cultured, multi-lingual mosaic where all faiths find freedom for peaceful coexistence. An India where humanism transcends all barriers of religious and cultural divisions. What this humanism will be is difficult to portray in the present day scenario where aggression, hatred, and apprehensions are growing. But a rather passionate and melodious appeal in the form of a beautiful song from a 1959 Hindi movie Dhool Ka Phool does appear relevant and seems to be the song for the moment. The lyrics of Sahir ludhianvi written some six decades ago and sung by the legendary Mohammed Rafi still make sense. Rather much more sense as it exhorts unity of humanity. Every stanza of the song ‘Tu Hindu banega na musalman banega, insaan ki aulad hai insaan banega’ harps on what is needed. It is being sung by a character in the film while bringing up an abandoned child. The song is paraphrased below: “You will neither become a Hindu nor a Muslim. You are the son of humanity and will be a human being. It is good that you don’t have a name till now, you don’t have anything to do with any religion. The knowledge that has divided humanity will have no effect on you. You will be the symbol of changing times. God made every person a human being; we made him a Hindu or Muslim. The nature had given us just one land, we made a Bharat or an Iran. You will become the storm that will break all these barriers. The religion that preaches hatred is not your religion, the steps that trample human beings are not your steps. The place where there is no room for the holy Quran is not your temple and the place where there is no room for Gita is not your holy abode. Those brokers of religion, those selling their country; the people selling the shrouds covering human corpses; those sitting in palaces, the irreligious, the robbers; those who exchange the gardens for thorns, you will pronounce their death sentence.” How relevant and how contemporary. As humanity sinks in the morass of hatred and religious bigotry, don’t we need to hear this song again and again to realise what is needed todayij

Pathak is a professor of management, writer, and an acclaimed public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com