1st speech in the midnight of Independence day

from the desk of executive editor/Nishant Karpatne

Let we all be ‘Retro’ and look back into our 1st speech in the midnight of Independence day .Tryst with Destiny” was a speech delivered by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India, to the Indian Constituent Assembly in The Parliament, on the eve of India’s Independence, towards midnight on 14 August 1947. It spoke on the aspects that transcend India’s history. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century and to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the Indian independence struggle against the British Empire in India ”Nehruji delivered his ‘Tryst with destiny’ speech to the Constituent Assembly close to the midnight hour on 14 August 1947.
Jawaharlal Nehru’s historic speech on the eve of Independence is widely regarded as one of the great speeches of the 20th century. It had it all – soaring rhetoric, a shrewd understanding of the power of language and a sweeping sense that this was a speech for the ages.

The speech had to both honour the sacrifices of the past that led to that moment and lay out a vision for the future, a future that still had to be written as a country, a civilization took re-birth.

The first prime minister of India delivered the speech to the Constituent Assembly close to the midnight hour on 14 August 1947.

“Long years ago,” Nehru began, “we made a tryst with destiny; and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.”

A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new — when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India, and her people, and to the still larger cause of humanity.”

The ‘Tryst with destiny’ speech was signature Nehru, crafted by his own hands.

While this was perhaps the more heartfelt speech given the sadness of partition that had descended on the nation, ‘Tryst with destiny’ has the power to speak directly to us after all these decades.

Tryst with destiny speech is still relevant and a reminder to all of us that still a lot is to be done to ameliorate the condition of masses in India.