PMINDIA

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Following is the English rendering of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s speech at ‘Run For Unity’ at Rajpath on the occasion of Rashtriya Ekta Diwas on October 31, 2014.

Everyone will repeat after me, when I say Sardar Patel, you will say Amar Rahein, Amar Rahein (Long Live Long Live)… Sardar Patel, (Amar Rahein) Sardar Patel. (Amar Rahein)

All senior members of the cabinet who are present on the stage; respected Sushma Swaraj ji, Venkaiah Naidu ji, Ravi Shankar Ji, Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and all my young friends.

Today is an inspiring birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. A country which forgets its history, can never create a history and so to build up a vibrant nation, to build up a nation full of hopes and expectations, to build up a nation where youth can dream and live their future, we shall never forget our historical heritage and it should never be divided on the ground of ideological differences. Men who have created history, Men who have dedicated their lives for the nation are our heritage who give our coming generation a reason for joy and enthusiasm.

Today is also the death anniversary of Mrs. Indira Gandhi. Sardar Patel gave his life for the solidarity of our nation. Being a barrister, that too a successful barrister, he dedicated his loyalty in the feet of Gandhi and he shook the English regime by bringing farmers forward to join the fight of freedom. The English had already anticipated the fact that if the committed people from villages, if the farmers of this country will join freedom struggle, then there will none, including the British which could confront that dedicated people of India.

Sometimes when we look at the story of Ramkrishna Paramhansa, we get a feeling that he was incomplete without Swami Vivekananda. Similarly, when we look at Mahatma Gandhi we feel like he was incomplete without Sardar Patel. There was an unbreakable bond between them. The event of Dandi March gave a new dimension to our freedom struggle which created an opportunity for the whole world to get a strong message through this event. On this occasion of Dandi March, Sardar Patel came out as the most successful organizer and as a worker Sardar Patel played a role which was unprecedented. In fact, Mahatma Gandhi had entrusted Sardar Patel with all the responsibilities of Dandi March and asked him to plan the campaign. We can now imagine the significant role of Sardar Patel alongside Mahatma Gandhi in the freedom struggle. But unfortunately nation was not blessed for long with his presence after independence as he died early. But in that little time, he foiled all ill-intentions of then British Raj by his foresightedness, unique strategies and patriotism. British government wanted to break our nation into several smaller pieces after independence and wanted that we kept fighting amongst ourselves and dying. This was what the intention of British was but Sardar Patel through his diplomacy, through his farsightedness, through his ability to make strategies and his strong determination integrated more than 550 estates into one country. He gave respect to people who deserved it. Those who needed to be handled with soft approach, he responded with that tone and those who needed to be threatened to submission, he never hesitated, he never held himself back or shied away from doing that. He proved his mettle. This great man, the way you are seeing our nation today, this has been a creation of Sardar Patel as he has unified this nation through his successful vision and India is never going to forget him.

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Centuries ago Chanakya finds its place in our history as a man who unified many kings under one banner, he dreamed of one nation and made that possible. After Chanakya, it was Sardar Patel who did this again and we are celebrating his birth anniversary today. But the irony is that the man who dedicated his life unifying this nation, the man who faced several criticisms and oppositions in his political life, the man who passed all the hurdles and never deviated from his objective of fulfilling his objective; and that objective was unity of India. In the same country, 30 years back on his birth anniversary a very unfortunate incident took place in India which threatened its unity. Our own people were killed. That incident was not just an injury on the heart specific community but was an attack with a knife, a dagger on the heart of 1000 years old great establishment, it was highly condemnable incident. This is very unfortunate that this incident happened on the day when this great man was born. Sardar Patel gave us one India and for its unity it is our responsibility to make it “The Great India” with more awareness and responsibility. We have this dream to make “One India, Great India”. To make this dream come true we have the strength of our inheritance i.e. unity in diversity. In that diversity, we need to move and think above racism, linguistic differences, communalism and there cannot be a better occasion than this anniversary which will give us the motivation for the coming days.

Today our young people are participating in “Run for Unity” throughout India. I think this is an effort to keep this mantra of unity forever. Our scriptures suggests “Rashtrayam Jagrayam Vayam…” means we should be awake all the time; if we have to make our dreams come true, we should keep on thinking about our dreams and work accordingly to accomplish them. India is full of diversity of various kinds. Our specialty is unity in diversity. We have never supported uniformity. We are full of diversity. There is a huge difference between a bouquet made of a similar flowers and the one with different varieties. India is full of such specialities, to make these specialities flourish we need keep the spirit of unity alive. This is our task to maintain and strengthen this bond of oneness amongst us and this is the message of solidarity we have to follow.

States Many, Nation one
Creeds Many, Target one
Dialects Many, Voice one
Languages Many, Expressions one
Colors Many, Flag one
Societies Many, India one
Customs Many, Culture one
Livelihood Many, Resolution one
Paths Many, Destination one
Faces Many, Smile one
This is the mantra of solidarity which nation should follow and move ahead.

(The original speech was in Hindi, this is the English rendering. Original speech remains authoritative version.)