Independence Day 2021: A look at mantras from our freedom fighters that resonate even today

After a long struggle against the British rule, India achieved independence on 15 August 1947. It has been 75 years since then. And no celebration of independence is complete without commemorating our freedom fighters who made several sacrifices to free India from the 200-year-old colonial yoke. Starting from 1757, India was ruled by Britishers for around two centuries. However, following the demand for complete independence (poorna swaraj), the Indian independence movement gained strength. It was owing to the efforts of leaders like Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru among others and that of our freedom fighters that the British finally decided to leave India. In the British House of Commons, on 4 July 1947, the Indian Independence Bill was introduced and passed two weeks later. The Bill proclaimed that the British rule would finally end on 15 August 1947. Here’s a look at some of the most inspiring quotes from our freedom fighters.

• “Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave, not a free man. One whose mind is not free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man. One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead. Freedom of mind is the proof of one’s existence”— BR Ambedkar
• “Sarfaroshi ki tamanna ab hamare dil me hai, dekhna hai zor kitna baazu-e-qaatil me hai” — Ramprasad Bismil
• “Freedom is never dear at any price. It is the breath of life. What would a man not pay for living?” — Mahatama Gandhi
• “Every citizen of India must remember that… he is an Indian and he has every right in this country but with certain …duties” — Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
• “Don’t see others doing better than you, beat your own records every day, because success is a fight between you and yourself” — Chandra Shekhar Azad
• “We want deeper sincerity of motive, a great courage in speech and earnestness in action” — Sarojini Naidu
• “A ‘No’ uttered from deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble” — Mahatama Gandhi
• “One individual may die for an idea, but that idea will, after his death, incarnate itself in a thousand lives” — Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
• “Swaraj is my birth right and I shall have it” — Bal Gangadhar Tilak
• “Jai Jawan Jai Kisaan” — Lal Bahadur Shastri