Miscellaneous - This Day That Age   

dated August 17, 1957: Lesson from the past

“If there is one lesson which we have to learn from the past it is this: We were never conquered from without, but we were defeated from within,” declared the Vice-President, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, inaugurating the 1857 Centenary Exhibition in New Delhi. He called upon the people to draw inspiration from the courage and heroism displayed by the freedom fighters of the past and face their problems with the motto of “service, sacrifice, dedication and social discipline.” The exhibition marked the beginning of the three-day centenary celebration of the 1857 freedom struggle. Dr. Radhakrishnan said now that the people had enjoyed freedom for the past ten years, it was only right that they should remember all those who fought for freedom and died. “The magnificent feats of heroism and valour displayed by the Rani of Jhansi, Bahadur Shah and his Queen, Nana Sahib, Tatya Tope, Kunwar Singh and countless others are a story of great sacrifice and suffering. The impact of the events of 1857 on the people of the country was considerable and it gave them a sense of nationalism.” The Vice-President said the “large-scale resistance to foreign domination could be crushed not because of the superior technical power and better discipline of the Britishers but because of our own intrigues and divided leadership. Religious, regional, economic, social and linguistic differences were exaggerated out of proportion and this impeded the country’s march to the attainment of freedom.”

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