God bless India …

The celebration of the Independence Day every year is an occasion to remember the people who have stood up to the bullet of the occupier. It is also an occasion to recall the path we had set for ourselves and have trod, as also the achievements we have made during the times of breathing the air of independence.

On the occasion of the 76th anniversary of the 15th August 1947, we join fellow citizens in relishing the legacy of standing up for self-determination and rededicating together for a better today and a new tomorrow.

Between today and this day last year we have reached out to the moons; we have upheld democratic traditions of electing our leaders in different states of the Indian Union; we have strived with resilience to keep the spirit of respecting dissent; and we have sought diligently to hold those in public service to accountability.

We recognise, and confess though, that we are not fully there. We have repeatedly failed each other in upholding our constitutional rights. Contexts of perpetuated discrimination including those relating to caste constructs, gender identities, varied abilities, and sexual orientations, contexts of compelling ethnic conflicts and communal discord, contexts of blaming and shaming religious minorities, contexts of market driven greed and avarice that structuralises poverty and impoverishment, have also contributed to where we are today. We acknowledge that but for these and such contexts We would have been a better People.

May this day wake us up to the fact that what we desire for ourselves must benefit the Least of us All. May the remembrances of the day bring us to greater determination and resolve to stand with those citizens who still yearn for the fruits of Independence, and together stand up as a nation that acknowledges and respects diversity as a means to realise Unity.

God bless India. Jai Hind  !

Rev  Asir Ebenezer
General Secretary, NCCI.