Inspiring thoughts that ignited the spirit of patriotism

Inspiring Thoughts that Ignited the Spirit of Patriotism

Thoughts and ideas that shaped up our nation

By 08th Aug, 2014 | 04:26 pm

The Independence struggle to break from the shackles of a three-centuries-old British bondage gave rise to many brave hearts. They fought not only with their might or swords but also with their gifted minds which gave rise to an unbridled flow of creativity. They spoke for our countrymen and penned down the struggle within every individual who craved for freedom.

Many thoughts and writings form the base of a nation which came together to form its ‘tryst with destiny’ of our hard fought independence. We share a few of them here below.

Rabindranath Tagore- Poet and Freedom Fighter

Source-Life Magazine

The Song of Free India or our ‘Tryst With Destiny’

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
by narrow domestic walls;
Where the words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening
thought and action--
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father,
let my country awake.

“

In 1919, Tagore renounced Knighthood (the highest honour conferred to an individual by the British) in protest of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

Balgangadhar Tilak (Lokmanya Tilak)- Sanskrit Scholar, Astronomer and Freedom Fighter

Source-Article.wn

“Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it!”

These were the fiery words of Tilak which roused a sleeping nation to action, making Indian people aware of their political plight under a foreign rule. Neither did Tilak question the British Sovereignty nor were his demands rebellious or revolutionary. All Tilak was asking for was to give the rightful citizens of the country the right to exercise their own freedom. However, the handful rulers who ruled India's millions thought otherwise. They thought that Tilak was whipping a rebellion and was imprisoned for treason.

Also go through the 3-D Interactive Map: Mahatma Gandhi's Mass Movements

‘Netaji’ Subhas Chandra Bose- Indian Nationalist

Source-Hindujagruti

"...Today is the proudest day of my life. For an enslaved people, there can be no greater pride, no higher honor, than to be the first soldier in the army of liberation. But this honor carries with it a corresponding responsibility, and I am deeply conscious of it. I assure you that I shall be with you in darkness and in sunshine, in sorrow and in joy, in suffering and in victory. For the present, I can offer you nothing except hunger, thirst, privation, forced marches and death. But if you follow me in life and in death, as I am confident you will, I shall lead you to victory and freedom. It does not matter who among us will live to see India free. It is enough that India shall be free, and that we shall give our all to make her free.

May God now bless our Army and grant us victory in the coming fight!"

This was the speech he delivered to the 13,000 strong army of the ‘Azad Hind Fauj’ (Indian National Army) in Singapore on 4 July 1943, as he waged war against the British government from outside India.

-Sayan Ganguly