ADDRESS BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, VICE PRESIDENT OF INDIA, ON THE OCCASION OF UNVEILING OF THE PORTRAIT OF LAL BAHADUR SHASTRI IN THE CENTRAL HALL, PARLIAMENT HOUSE

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1993

                Respected Rashtrapatiji, Hon’ble Prime Minister,
                Hon’ble Speaker, Hon’ble Giani Zail Singhji,
                Hon’ble Ministers ad Hon’ble Members of Parliament,

The President of India has just unveiled a statue of Mahatma Gandhi in front of the Parliament House. It is a tribute by the representatives of the people of India to the Father of the Nation on his birthday. This morning the President of India will also unveil a portrait of Lal Bahadur Shastriji in the Central Hall of Parliament.
 
Mahatma Gandhi had said that his ambition was to wipe every tear from every eye. Our hearts go out , on this occasion, to the people of Maharashtra who are, right now, groaning under the tragedy of a natural calamity. Both Gandhiji and Shastriji had devoted their lives to the service of the people and to the relief of human suffering.

We in India today need the courage and spirit of self-sacrifice that Gandhiji had shown in the struggle for our independence. Gandhiji had pitted his iron will, his soul-force, as he called it, against the might of an Empire. He told a weak and unarmed nation: “A nation of 350 million people does not need the dagger of the assassin, it does not need the poison bowl, the spear or the bullet. It needs simply a will of its own to say No. “ India has changed a great deal since those days and is stronger today. But the strength of the national still lies in the power of the people now over 850 million. In the new world that is emerging in which the pulls and pressures of superior force, are as much a reality as global co-operation, it is necessary for us to regenerate that indomitable will of the people that Gandhiji symbolized. It was such courage and will power that Shastriji displayed in 1965, when the territorial integrity of the country, was threatened from outside. The numble man of peace that he was, Shstriji rose to the challenge and gave a decisive rebuff to the aggressor.

Today, while paying homage to Gandhiji it is the bumbleman, the common man of India, that comes uppermost to one’s mind. Gandhiji had derived inspiration and strength from him. He once said: “In the case of the India villager on age-old culture is hidden under an encrustation of crudeness. Take away the encrustation, remove his illiteracy, and you have the finest specimen of what a cultured, cultivated, free citizen should be.”

It is to the task of making finest citizens out of our ordinary people that he devoted his entire life. “Whatever can be useful to the starving millions”, he said, “is beautiful to my mind. Let us give today, first, the vital things of life, and all the graces and ornaments of life will follow.” There is hardly any case of a leader in history who, in the thick of a struggle, formulated and implemented, with no instruments of State power in his hands, a constructive programme for the upliftment of the masses. What it shows is that, when we have the power of the State beside us, individuals groups and parties can do a great deal for national development, and relief of poverty and suffering, in our country.
               
Lal Bahadur Shastriji on becoming Prime Minister, animated by Gandhian spirit, declared that his immediate priorities would be those affecting the common man, viz. Food, shelter, medical care and work. In the critical war-situation in 1965, with a stroke of practical genius, he integrated the urgent defence needs of the country with the needs of the “Kisan”. He declared that, “farms to strengthen arms must be our motto and our watch-word” and, through his magical slogan, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan”, he provided a rallying point for the nation. When the war was won he said: “ We have to fight for peace with the same courage and determination as we fought against aggression.” It was in this spirit of peace that he conclude the Tashkent Agreement, as Smt. Indira Gandhi, much later, signed the Shimla Agreement after a famous victory. We owe it to Shastriji and to Indiraji, that the sacrifices of war and the gains of peace, are not rendered ineffectual, under the pressure of national and international circumstance.
                               
 The Buddha-like pose of the statue of Gandhiji, would constantly remind us of the philosophy of non-violence, that he practiced in the struggle for India’s independence. In this era of nuclear power and the threat of nuclear annihilation, the philosophy and method of Gandhi are becoming increasingly relevant. Perhaps that is the only weapon available to no-nuclear nations in this age of nuclear blackmail. Non-violence is also the ultimate basis of real democracy. There will be no democracy within a State, if relations among people are determined by violence, and there will be no democracy in the world, if relations among nations are regulated by the use or threat of use of nuclear or other kinds of superior power. That is why Gandhiji had always held that without non-violence, there can be no genuine democracy and no peace. This Parliament is the temple of democracy in India. With the statue of Gandhiji in front of us in that meditating pose, it is incumbent on us to think deeply about the future of our country, and also about how we, as representatives of the people, conduct our business and carry out our duties. Gandhiji believed profoundly in democracy. So did Lal Bahadur Shastriji. While paying homage to them on their birthday, let us strive to strengthen our democracy and serve our people

Thank you.