PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS from page 1

in the future. We have to remain united and prepared not
only when war-like situations come upon us, but in normal
times also, so that we are not ever again taken unawares
by surprise attacks. We have to pay special attention to
strengthening our armed forces, equip them with the latest
weapons and force multipliers. Hitherto our expenditure
on defence has been one of the lowest in the world in
terms of percentage of the GDP, much lower than that of
our neighbours. It is incumbent upon us to rectify this
imbalance.

At the same time let us remember that a country is de-
fended not by arms alone but by wise policies and the
strength of its economy, by the justice and cohesion of its
society, by the unity of its people. We are a peace-loving
people by nature and tradition. We wish to live in peace
with our neighbours and with the entire world. Indeed it
was due to this passion for peace and our desire to avoid
a fratricidal civil war, in the sub-continent, that the leaders
of the Indian National Congress agreed to the partition of
our motherland into India and Pakistan. It is ironic that this
great sacrifice on our part and our desire to live in peace
with Pakistan have not prevented unprovoked aggression
and subversion against our country. In October 1947, in
the very first year of our independence, Pakistan launched
an attack on us in order to wrest Jammu and Kashmir
from the Indian Union. On October 29th Mahatma Gandhi
said at his prayer meeting in Delhi that now that “the
Maharaja of Kashmir has announced his decision to ac-
cede to the Indian Union ...and that he has taken refuge
in the Indian Union, he should be protected”. Answering
the question as to what should the small band of Indian
soldiers sent to Srinagar by air do, Gandhiji said: “Let
them fight to the end. The job of armed soldiers is to
march ahead and repel the attacking enemy. They die in
fighting, but never retreat”. It was this advice by the Father
of the Nation and the apostle of non-violence that our
brave soldiers followed in 1947 and in the recent attack on
us in the Kargil area in Jammu and Kashmir.

In January 1948 Gandhiji said “We must never, under any
circumstances, treat anyone as our enemy...My reason
and my heart tell me that, if for some reason, we are
unable to forge friendship between Muslims and Hindus,
not only here but in Pakistan and in the whole world, we
shall not be able to keep our free India for long. It will pass
into the hands of others”, and the freedom gained by both
India and Pakistan “will be lost”. On the awful prospect of
a war between India and Pakistan he further warmed, with
his shrewd insight into the real politik of the world, that “If
you imagine to-day that we can fight and win, let me say
that even before you do so, some other world power is
going to swallow us up. It will swallow, in fact, both the
countries.

If all my friends who are sensible people and who have
spent several years with me in my work, understand that
much, we would all be safe”.

While driving this basic point home Gandhiji had a clear
grasp of the reality of the situation and said “The fact is

that Pakistan has invaded Kashmir. Indian troops have
gone there as defenders at the express Invitation of the

6 INDIANEWS « August 15, 1999

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Maharaja of the State and of Sheik Abdullah who is the
real leader of the Kashmiri people. | shall advise Pakistan
and India to sit together and decide the matter. If they are
interested in a settlement what is the need for an arbitra-
tor.” Gandhiji was against the intervention of a third party
or of a foreign hand as arbitrator. I recall these words
today because they sum up the totality of the position
which we have followed. That was our position at the
Shimla Summit in 1972 and that was the position our
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took when he traveled
to Lahore this year and signed the Lahore Declaration with
the Prime Minister of Pakistan. We adhere to the same
friendly stand but, as we have been let down more than
once in the past, it is prudent of us and it is our duty to
our people to be prepared for any surprise attack on us.
We have to act according to the old adage that eternal
vigilance is the price of freedom as well as of peace.

Friends, as we celebrate our Independence to-morrow we
recall in grateful remembrance the band of great and
selfless men and women who led us in the struggle —
Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Babu Rajendra Prasad,
Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Sarojini Naidu and the in-
comparable Netaji Subash Chandra Bose, and a host of
others. We also recall the foot soldiers of that struggle,
countless heroes and heroines who carried aloft the ban-
ner of Swaraj. Their aim was to free this ancient land so
that millions of Indians sunk in poverty, disease and squa-
lor would rise and live in dignity as free human beings. We
have yet to redeem the pledge they gave to our people.
One third of our people still live below the poverty level,
almost half of our adult population is illiterate, and more
than half of our children are under-nourished. And withal
our population is increasing at an alarming rate - it has
been estimated that India’s population would cross the
one billion mark on Independence Day. The great strides
we have made in economic development and in the im-
provement in the condition of our people has been, to
some extent, negatived by this population explosion. We
have to gather the political and social will to stem this tide,
instead of frittering away our energies in the pursuit of the
politics of power and pelf. Great causes cry out for our
urgent attention. The women of India have not yet come
out of the long night of discrimination, inequality and
denial of rights in which they have been living for ages.
But it is gratifying to note that in different parts of India
they have been rising and organizing themselves in move-
ments for self-employment and economic empowerment.
They need political support. The struggle for the basic and
minimum needs of our people - for food, nutrition, health,
education, drinking water and energy — remain an unfin-
ished business. The magnitude of these problems is so
immense that if we do not address them as our over-riding
political, social and economic priorities, the galloping popu-
lation would overwhelm us in the future. Against this
background | am glad to recognize the grass-root move-
ments cropping up in different parts of our country for
supervision of development programmes by the people
for education, health, employment, etc. for which Govem-
ment has set apart large sums of money. The Right to
information is one such grass-root movement which de-
serves wider popular and legislative support. Our natural
environment and life sources such as air, water and land