FROM MAULANA’S DESK

city. Walking on the streets of Azamgarh, my condition at that moment can be rightly described by these Hindi lines: Khushi se paon zameen par nahin padh rahe the. (My happiness lifted my feet off the ground!) When I woke up the next morning, all the lights of the city had faded. They have not been lighted up again because the joy that people had expected to arrive in their lives after Independence was missing. Now I am over 90 years of age, and I am still waiting for the India that I have been dreaming of since my younger days. I have since given much thought to this matter. My opinion is that before Independence we had successfully set in motion a movement for gaining freedom in the Gandhian style, but we were unable to initiate the movement that was desired after Independence. On 8 August 1942, Indian leaders advanced the political slogan of ‘Quit India’, which was successfully realized on 15 August 1947. The slogan we were required to work towards after Independence was ‘Build India’. However, as a senior citizen of our country, my feelings are that perhaps the second phase of our struggle was not set forth in the right direction. Instead of ‘Build India’, our leaders adopted the formula of ‘Rule India’, which was like putting the cart before the horse. In other words, most of our rulers aimed to simply become rulers of India instead of expending their energies in working towards building our country. In this matter, I consider the American model very suitable. At one time America too was a British colony. It gained its freedom in 1776. The plan made by the Founding Fathers of America to realize the American dream was centred on three points: education, infrastructure and a competitionbased economy. As everyone knows, this planning of the American leaders bore fruit and their nation became the superpower of the world. Had India emulated the American model of development, it too would have reached the position of a global power. Indian leaders, however, did not pattern their country’s development on the model set by America, and instead chose to adopt the socialist model. In the present circumstances, we may not be in a state to pursue the American model. The option before us at this juncture is to draw lessons from the French statesman Charles De Gaulle, who served as President of France from 1959 to 1969. The example he set involved In life it often happens that individuals or nations are unable to avail of the first chance. This is why they have to plan again for a second time.