As India prepares to celebrate its 79th Independence Day on August 15, 2025, the nation’s journey from colonial subjugation to sovereignty continues to be illuminated by the words of its leaders and freedom fighters. These voices, drawn from different eras and backgrounds, carried the vision, courage, and determination that ultimately shaped an independent India.
From Jawaharlal Nehru’s call for “complete Swaraj” during the historic Lahore Session in 1929, to Bal Gangadhar Tilak’s uncompromising assertion in Pune in 1916 that freedom must be claimed if not given, the message was clear: India’s destiny would be determined by its own people.
Revolutionary leaders such as Subhas Chandra Bose and Chandrashekhar Azad infused the struggle with uncompromising militancy. Bose, addressing the Indian National Army in Singapore in 1943, declared that “the only way to meet the British is with the sword,” while Azad pledged to remain free even in the face of enemy bullets.
Others, like Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, stressed sacrifice and moral strength. Gandhi’s “Do or Die” slogan during the Quit India Movement in 1942 became a rallying cry, while Patel urged that any fight for freedom be waged with a pure heart.
The movement was also shaped by voices demanding justice for all sections of society. B.R. Ambedkar warned that India’s freedom would be incomplete until the last oppressed citizen was liberated, and Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay championed the cause of women’s emancipation as central to the nation’s progress.
Poets, philosophers, and reformers enriched the spirit of the struggle. Rabindranath Tagore linked India’s chains to the bondage of humanity, Sarojini Naidu spoke of patriotism as the true measure of a country’s greatness, and Aurobindo Ghose reminded the nation that its soul was beyond the reach of imperial rule.
From the battlefields of the Rampa Rebellion to the prison cells of Lahore, the independence movement was driven by unyielding conviction. Bhagat Singh captured the essence of the fight when he wrote, “It is easy to kill individuals, but you cannot kill the ideas.”
As the tricolour rises this Independence Day, these words—born of courage, sacrifice, and an unshakable belief in freedom—serve not only as a reminder of the past but as a guide for the future.
