Chapter 11 : We are All Brothers

We are All Brothers

 

The Prophet (peace be upon him) remarked “A true believer is not someone who eats his fill when his neighbour stays hungry”

“Feeding a hungry person to his fill is the best charity”

“Ask about the ill. Feed the hungry. Free the slave/ imprisoned”

“Let’s dance let’s sing that we have got our happy freedom” is the poem of the great poet Bharathiyaar.

He sang this before we got our independence. It is doubtful if he would have sung had we got our independence.

Independence Day means holiday for children. Sweets are distributed to the children at school. Small paper flags are pinned on to their shirts.

Some local government leaders would hoist the National Flag on the school campus. As the flag is being hoisted it is a beautiful sight to behold the colourful flowers tied inside the flag showered down.

Is this the way how Independence Day should be? Our forefathers strived against the English to free ourselves from our slavish lives.

Don’t we need to remember Tirupur Kumaran who was beaten bloody and blue by the English Police?

Don’t we need to remember V.O.C who drew oil in the prisons?

Don’t we need to remember the poet Bharathi who transformed meek herds of people into roaring lions by his firebrand poetry?

Don’t we need to remember the heroic Tipu Sultan who frightened the English by his roar?

Don’t we need to remember Subash Chandra Bose who organised an army of Indian heroes? 

Don’t we need to remember the sacrifices made by Maruthanayakam?

Do we know their history?

The English butchered and presented the head of the Mughal prince at the table of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah who wasn’t intimidated by the aggressive and oppressive policies of the English. Bahadur Shah was not cowered or broken by this. The English colonialist asked him “Aren’t you weeping even when you see the severed head of your son?”

Bahadur Shah replied calmly “A true hero will bear any sorrow/ calamity for the sake of independence of India”

The generation of people now have to remember and ponder on these.

To be proud of our independence our education standards have to rise. Bribery must not exist. Social morality must prevail. Law and order must exist.

Only if these conditions are met there is real independence.

When thousands of people were slaughtered in Gujarat can we say India is independent?

Mahatma Gandhi remarked “Independence Day is when a woman can walk all alone by herself and reach home safely”.

Is Gandhi’s vision possible today? Ponder on it.

Let us remember these heroes of independence, their histories, and at least take a vow in the upcoming Independence Day that “We are all brothers. We have no differences amongst us. We will be United irrespective of our religious differences”

Our unity is a rung in the development and progress of our country.