Happy Independence Day

 

As India gears up to celebrate its 69th year of independence from the British on 

Saturday, 15 August 2015.

Independence Day is a day when people in India pay homage to their leaders and those who fought for India's freedom in the past. The period leading up to Independence Day is a time when major government buildings are illuminated with strings of lights and the tricolor flutters from homes and other buildings.

Some of these slogans are worth recalling on the eve of Independence Day:

• 'Vande Mataram (Hail to the Mother(land))': Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay
• 'Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan; Long Live Youth, Long Live Farmer': Lal Bahadur Shastri
• 'Jai Hind': Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose
• 'Swaraj Mera Janamsiddha adhikar hai, aur main ise laker rahoonga (Swaraj is my birthright and I shall have it)': coined by Kaka Baptista and adopted by Bal Gangadhar Tilak
• 'Satyameva Jayathe (Truth alone will win)': popularised by Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya
• 'Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live the Revolution)': coined by Muslim Leader Hasrat Mohani and stands synonymous with Bhagat Singh
• 'Sarfaroshi Ki Tamanna, Ab hamare dil mein hai': a patriotic poem by Bismil Azimabadi and used as slogan by Ramprasad Bismil