We are regaining our birthright after several centuries. Foreign rule was naturally interested in maintaining its stranglehold and everything else was subjected to that domineering objective. Despite the facade of representative government here and there, all authority and power were essentially vested in foreign hands. There was neither any true liberty nor any fundamental unassailable basic rights. All that, and even our very existence, rested on the mercy of the alien power. None could retain anything like liberty, honour or property, against their will or except by way of suffering on their part. India simply did not exist on the international plane. We were looked upon with derision and contempt wherever we went. What looked like voluntary surrender on the part of four hundred million of men and women to a handful of foreigners whose domination over them was as unmistakable as it was all-comprehensive, domineering and overbearing was incomprehensible to the free people.

Despite the large space occupied by India on the map of the world, nobody seemed to recognise its existence or to take any notice of the vast numbers residing here. Even the tallest of Indians, the most distinguished and eminent among men, failed to receive due appreciation. Their merits were underrated because they belonged to a subject country.

All that has, however, changed now. The fight for freedom has ended and thus we are observing the day of triumph all across the country today. India now or hereafter, the people of today and their descendants, for all time to come will never forget the debt they owe to Mahatma Gandhi. He has led us through gloom, despondency and darkness and to him we owe our victory. He is the fountainhead and the invincible architect of our freedom and the prayer will go from all hearts that he may live long to build the new India of which he has laid the foundations securely and firmly.

On the 15th, the Tricolour will be hoisted on all the forts, government houses, courts and other State buildings. It will be the emblem of our freedom and also symbolise the fundamentals of our creed. Power will be vested in the people themselves and their chosen representatives will be at the helm of affairs at the Centre as well as in the provinces. All will work for the reconstruction of a new social order based on justice, fair play, understanding, goodwill and equality of opportunity for one, and also that our Union may be great not only materially, but also morally and spiritually; and the light of wisdom emanating from it may illumine and remove the gloom from every dark spot in the world.

If we dedicate ourselves to this task, we will not only raise the status of our people and country but also secure the restoration of the complete and perfect unity of India much earlier than even the optimists among us have no reason to expect.

Govind Ballabh Pant was a freedom fighter and the first chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. A version of this article was published in Hindustan Times on August 15, 1947