Short, sweet and powerful
Often, big ideas need a river of words, like Manmohan Singh’s 18,533-word first Budget speech on July 24, 1991 that laid down the charter for India’s economic freedom. But Jawaharlal Nehru’s stirring ‘Tryst With Destiny’ speech that ushered in Independence “at the stroke of the midnight hour” on August 14, 1947 was only 820 words long.
Nation’s Hour Of Grief
Nehru remains unsurpassed in his ability to match idiom to occasion. When Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948, he addressed the nation in a faltering voice: “The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere…”
Often, big ideas need a river of words, like Manmohan Singh’s 18,533-word first Budget speech on July 24, 1991 that laid down the charter for India’s economic freedom. But Jawaharlal Nehru’s stirring ‘Tryst With Destiny’ speech that ushered in Independence “at the stroke of the midnight hour” on August 14, 1947 was only 820 words long.
Nation’s Hour Of Grief
Nehru remains unsurpassed in his ability to match idiom to occasion. When Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated on January 30, 1948, he addressed the nation in a faltering voice: “The light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere…”
The Biggest Unanswered Question
“Will Indians place the country above their creed or will they place creed above country?” —BR Ambedkar, in the closing speech of the first Constituent Assembly, November 1949
Challenge To Authority
In the mid-1970s, Jayaprakash Narayan became the nucleus of the countrywide resistance to Indira Gandhi’s rule. Hours before she declared Emergency, he ? red up a crowd with Hindi poet Dinkar’s words: “Singhaasan khali kar do ki janata aati hai”