ideology vs secularism

India gained independence at the stroke of midnight on 15th august 1947. Pt. Jwahar Lal Nehru’s “tryst with destiny” speech was a rarefaction of the heartfelt contribution of our freedom fighters. Contribution of our freedom fighters cannot be foreseen. Our heroes like Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev, Subhash Chandra Bose, Chandrasekhar Azad and the list never ends.


Preamble of India reads itself as “we the people of India solemnly resolve India into a “secular”, sovereign, socialist democratic republic”. The word secular used here is justifying that we all are Indians we are one and the best example has been our freedom fighters. Most of the martyrs were from different community, speak different languages, wear different clothes, but to be remembered is that they all were united for one single cause, for what they are remembered till today, making myself clear for; INDEPENDENCE and if seen independence in itself explores out bundle of meanings for we people to learn from the footprints of these extraordinary lives who had sacrificed their today for our tomorrow. So on the land of divine souls is it appropriate to fight just because we want our region our culture freedom fighters picture to be on the currency note? Is it really beneficial deal that people from Punjab Want? Yes, I am talking about the verdict of having Shaheed Bhagat Singh pictures on the currency note taking rise in minds and hearts of Punjabi youth. No doubt it brings out a very clear picture of the respect the youth has shown to their hero, but are they really following his footprints? What makes a bigger difference, having Gandhi ji or shaheed bhagat Singh on currency note or our currency being equivalent to US $ or eradicating poverty from the country or raising the economic condition of the country.


In a country where a Sikh is the prime minister and a Muslim the president, will it really make a difference on our lives that if we preach for our region heroes to be raised up just because of the cause of making his picture represent the currency of a secular country? What if tomorrow’s newspaper headlines read that Shiv Sena or Marathi’s want Shaheed Rajguru name to be crafted on Gateway of India? If such things are going to happen in our country then where will our democracy stand? How citizens of other countries will preach our secularism? Our brotherhood! Our humanity! It’s our country; our people, we all are one, no matter who’s on currency note what matter is that are we really following the footprints of the people who laid their present for our future! Or are we just disturbing the divine souls resting in peace by just using their name for political base and stand-ups?


I agree that no matter what extra importance is given to bapu in name of his sacrifices but raising the issues in which we fight on religious bias is not appropriate we all should unite and raise our leaders images in young minds by telling them importance of sacrifices of our leaders. Shaheed Bhagat Singh explains freedom of India as “I will consider my country to be free when all of my brothers and sisters have an equal status and every individual can live up freely”
We should preach for raising their importance but not in manner of challenging other images of our leaders.Shaheed Bhagat Singh and Gandhi Ji’s views were different, there way of working were different they were working for one single cause for their own country own countrymen not because they wanted to have their pictures on currency notes.