The Dawn Of Freedom

The bid to fragment India led to communal strife throughout the country. This ‘crisis in India’s soul’, as Jawaharlal Nehru described it, not only affected its direct victims, but shook the cherished ideals on which the entire structure of national life was based.

Midnight, August 14-15, 1947: The sacrifices of the millions who suffered and died for the country finally bore fruit. India became an independent nation.

Moving the resolution prescribing an oath for the members in the Constituent Assembly, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Independent India, declared: "Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge... The service of India means the service of the millions who suffer. It means the ending of poverty and ignorance and disease and inequality of opportunity."