Jawaharlal Nehru: Speeches on the Granting of Indian Independence

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

On August 14, 1947, on the eve of Indian independence from British rule, as the first prime minister of India, Nehru delivered a speech titled “Tryst with Destiny” to the Constituent Assembly in the Parliament House in New Delhi. In this speech Nehru recollects the struggles and dreams leading up to India's freedom and also outlines a path for India following the attainment of independence. In the subsequent address to the press on August 15, 1947, titled “The Appointed Day,” Nehru spoke further to the people of India about the nature and meaning of freedom and the responsibilities that freedom entails. A key element of the two speeches is the vision that Nehru had for the Indian Subcontinent and its role in world affairs. The idea of destiny that he evokes throughout the speeches is derived from the ideals of the swadeshi movement, particularly the notion of a unique Indian destiny to be found in the writings of Sri Aurobindo Ghose. Nehru began as a follower of the extremist faction under Bal Gangadhar Tilak, and although he later grew close to the moderate faction under Gandhi, Nehru attempts to find in this speech a synthesis of the two approaches.

“Tryst with Destiny” includes reminiscences of the freedom struggle as well as a pledge to be taken by all members of the Constituent Assembly to dedicate themselves to the service of the country and to work toward its further glory. “The Appointed Day” expresses similar reminiscences, but its focus is on the fundamental principles that would later be enshrined in the constitution, including secularism, democracy, and sovereignty.

“Tryst with Destiny”

The opening paragraph sets the tone for the rest of the speech, which shifts among three different time lines: the past, which includes the history of the subcontinent and the country from ancient times to the latest freedom struggle; the immediate future as present, which is the moment of Indian independence and the transfer of power to the Indian government at midnight on August 15 as well as its political emergence as a unified nation; and the future, which involves certain commitments on the part of those involved in the freedom struggle and the members of the first government of the free India with a view to the larger interests of the nation and its role in the world. The second paragraph, with its evocation of the long journey of India toward the present, lends coherence to the objectives of the freedom struggle, namely, the ideal of freedom itself and the opportunities afforded by independence. This and the next paragraph also distinguish between political freedom and the circumspect use of that freedom toward better rule of the self (swaraj). As independence in this case involved not a period of anarchy but instead the transfer of power from an imposed government to a representative one, the onus was on the latter to fulfill the needs that gave it birth. Thus the speech introduces a note of caution with the theme of responsibility, even as it celebrates the end of a period of tribulation.

The fourth paragraph brings to view certain realities and problems of the subcontinent: overpopulation, poverty, and caste- and class-based inequalities. A reference to Gandhi is made at this juncture, as Gandhi's role in uniting the different castes and communities had been pivotal during the freedom struggle. There is a subtle shift of tone in referring to Gandhi, underscoring the difference between ideals and the realization of those ideals in pragmatic terms in the context of national development.

The next paragraph speaks of the connected nature of world politics that was increasingly evident during World War II. The war had revealed how national policies led to global ramifications, just as the end of the war and the formation of the United Nations in 1945 had raised hopes of a more permanent peace among the nations. The later emergence of the nonaligned movement, or nonadherence to any power bloc, is evident within the vision of Nehru outlined here.

The final section consists of a call to resolve differences among the different political groups in the independent India in order to achieve the development objectives. The pledge that concludes the speech, to be taken by all members of the Constituent Assembly, is toward this end. The pledge reiterates the idea of a unique destiny for India in world history, of which the moment of independence was a first step.

“The Appointed Day”

“The Appointed Day” is often considered a companion piece to “Tryst with Destiny” because it is similar in tone and style, though it is addressed to a different audience and differs somewhat in content. The speech consists of three main sections. The opening section is a statement on the history and the idea of destiny. The second section invokes the architects of India's freedom as well as the costs it had incurred in the struggle for independence. The third section speaks of the responsibilities attendant on freedom.

Nehru's belief in a Marxist view of history is evident in the opening section. The dialectical model of history, with its ceaseless movement of conflicts and new resolutions and equilibriums, is invoked by Nehru when he speaks of the past as a finished process leading to the present, which in turn consists of new conflicts and struggles: The historical process in which people live and act is always received and recorded by the future as complete. This view of history is combined with the notion of the present as the necessary outcome of a particular destiny, an idea that is also evident in the earlier speech.

In the second paragraph, Nehru compares the moment of India's independence to the birth of a new star in the East, a metaphor borrowed from the speech of Rabindranath Tagore on nationalism in Japan, delivered in 1916. The inherent contradiction in this metaphor—the comparison of a preexisting nation to the birth of a new star—is resolved if we consider that the geopolitical unification of modern India, from diverse states united by common cultural roots but segregated by diverse political affiliations, happened after independence.

In paragraph 4, Nehru first pays homage to Gandhi, “the Father of our Nation,” who embodied the principles of nonviolence and gave currency through his speeches and deeds to some of the cultural values present in the philosophical texts of the Indian tradition, particularly the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. Nehru then speaks of the revolutionaries and soldiers who gave up their lives during the freedom struggle. A particular reference here is to the soldiers of the Indian National Army, formed by Subhas Chandra Bose as the first army of independent India. The much-publicized Indian National Army trials were a major catalyst in the demand for freedom in the final stages of the freedom struggle. These trials were the courts-martial for treason of a number of officers who had been part of the British Indian Army and had later joined the Indian National Army and fought alongside the Japanese in Burma. Nehru invokes a recent memory in order to further the unity of the nation.

In the next paragraph, Nehru refers to the partition of India, which entailed the separation of people from the same country by political boundaries that resulted from communal tension. Nehru does not refer to the freedom of Pakistan but only to the fact that Pakistan does not share the freedom of India, in part because of the belief shared by Nehru and Gandhi that the partition was only a temporary process that would eventually be revoked once the communal tension subsided. It is one of the reasons that Nehru emphasizes secular values in his speech and that until his death refused to let India be declared a Hindu nation.

In the closing paragraphs Nehru outlines the immediate concerns to be addressed by the political parties after independence as well as the ideologies that were to drive the process of nation building. The dimensions of nation building formed an interconnected network of infrastructural development, psychical reorientation, and social emancipation, which allowed individuals to experience the social opportunities derived from freedom and fully express themselves. The speech concludes by stressing the fundamental values of the Indian nation that would eventually be part of the constitution: secularism and democracy. As a nation that had been vivisected by communal tension and seen its independence sacrificed partially on the altar of political convenience, the call of secularism appears as a plea for unity as well as a potent warning to prevent further dismembering. The speech ends with the words “Jai Hind,” or “victory to Hind (India).”