Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's
address to the nation on Jan 1st, 2002

Excerpt

"My dear fellow countrymen, joyous new year greetings to all of you.

[….]

Nations achieve greatness when their people learn to dream lofty dreams and to strive hard - and make sacrifices, when necessary - to realise those dreams, without getting disheartened by the difficulties along the way and without ever letting their faith in their nation's destiny falter.

I am reminded here of the inspiring vision of Maharshi Aurobindo, which he set out in his historic radio broadcast for August 15, 1947:

"I have always held and said that India was arising, not to serve her own material interests only, to achieve expansion, greatness, power, and prosperity - though these too she must not neglect, - and certainly not like others to acquire domination of other peoples, but to live also for god and the world as a helper and leader of the whole human race."

This, I believe, is the quintessence of India's work, now and in the future. Different leaders of modern India have presented the same vision in different words. "

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