Rewriting the history
India has just celebrated 73rd Republic Day on 26th January this year with several historic changes that took place in the grand celebrations and the parade on Rajpath in New Delhi. The first and foremost being the Republic Day celebrations now starting from 23rd January, to mark the birth anniversary of the real hero of India’s independence struggle, Subhash Chandra Bose. This year also marks to be the 125th year of Netaji’s birth anniversary.
To pay tributes of a grateful nation to its real heroes of the freedom struggle, Modi government has made some paradigm changes to the traditional stereotypes of following the age-old traditions of our former colonial masters. The biggest one of them being the shifting of Amar Jawan Jyoti from India Gate to the newly built National War Memorial close by, which is built in the memory of all the martyrs who laid their lives for Mother India after independence. The monument of Indian Gate was built by Britishers for the soldiers who were killed fighting for British India. It’s so ironical that until Modi government built National War Memorial two years ago, there was no place to pay tributes to the brave hearts who sacrificed their lives for the nation. There was a lot of hue and cry by the opposition parties on merger of the eternal flame or the Amar Jawan Jyoti with the eternal flame at National War Memorial, without any reason. The opposition by Congress party is understandable since these changes break the one party and one family’s monopoly on every occasion of national importance. It’s bizarre and so selfish of these parties to oppose even on the matters of national pride and importance. The Indian nation is not a personal property of any political party, the nation belongs to the people of India or Bharat. The changes and the corrections are bound to happen with the course of time so not everything should be opposed for the sake of it.
Till now, tableaus taking part in the parade every year were mostly glorification of the remanences of Mughal and British invaders only. Modi government has changed this shameful glorification from this year and has started promoting and show casing India’s indigenous culture and glorious rich and colourful heritage. This was an epic change which was clearly visible on Rajpath this year. The nearly completed and much hyped Central Vista project added many feathers to a dazzling and spectacular show of India’s might this year. When completed, by the next Republic Day parade, this whole parade area will be marvel of Indian architecture and a monument of national pride. This year is also the Amrit Mahotsav or the 75th year of India’s independence so the flypast made by 75 Air Force fighter jets was a jaw dropping, spectacular show which put everyone in an awe. This was a proud display of India’s military might today, which puts India’s enemy in their place. In the past 7- 8 years, India has made a quantum leap in the defence sector and from a arms and weapons importer, to becoming a defence weapons exporter. Many countries of the world now look up to India to fulfil their defence needs in a cost-effective manner. India’s defence research scientists have made the world believe their mettle and wisdom already, including in the field of space science.
The world now accepts and recognises India’s might in every sector of the industry and India’s is on the path of becoming a world leader soon. The World Bank and IMF are projecting India’s GDP growth at a rate which is almost double of the world’s average growth today. Its India’s opposition parties only who can’t see anything good happening in the country while the whole world can see it. Wish the people in the opposition parties in India will rise above the petty politics and will think in unison for the nation with the rest of the country. - Yugal Parashar