question_answer 7)

Read the three quotations above carefully.  

On the 26th of January 1950, we are going to enter a life of contradictions. In politics we Will have equality and in social and economic life we will have inequality. In politics we will be recognizing the principle of one man one vote and one vote one value. In our social and economic life, we shall, by reason of our social and economic structure, continue to deny the principle of one man one value. How long shall we continue to live this life of contradiction? How long shall we continue to deny equality in our social and economic life? If we continue to deny it for long, we will do so only by putting our political democracy in peril.

 

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, When an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.  Freedom and power bring responsibility. The responsibility rests upon this assembly, a sovereign body representing the sovereign people of India. Before the birth of freedom We have endured all the pains of labour and our hearts are heavy with the memory of this sorrow. Some of those pains continue even now. Nevertheless, the past is over and it is the future that beckons to us now.  That future is not one of ease or resting but of incessant striving so that we may fulfils the pledges we have so often taken and the one we shall take today. The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity. The ambition of the greatest man of our generation has been to wipe every tear from every eye. That may be beyond us, but as long as there are tears and suffering, so long our work will not be over.

  (i) Can you identify one idea that is common to all these three quotations? (ii) What are the differences in their ways of expressing that common idea?    

Answer:

(i) The one idea that is common to all these three quotations is the ending of inequality in Indian society. (ii) In the first quotation, Gandhiji strived for an India in which there should be no higher or lower class of people and all communities should live in perfect harmony.  In the second quotation, BR Ambedkar said, "We are going to enter a life of contradictions. In politics, we will have equality but in social and economic life, we will have inequality."                          In the third quotation, Jawaharlal Nehru said about the ending of poverty, inequality, "the service of India means the ending of poverty, ignorance, disease and inequality of opportunity."