Martin Luther King Jr. famous “I have a Dream” speech reimagined in Indian context”
By Kashif-ul-Huda, TwoCircles.net
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights leader. He led a non-violent movement in 1960s for the civil rights of blacks in America. His 1963 speech famously known as “I have a Dream” speech called for end of racism in the United States.
Injustices that Dr. King fought against are also present in India but alas we have no leader like him to champion that cause and boldly state the case. I have taken the text of the famous speech and modified some words here and there to suit the Indian context and imagine a speech that Dr. King would have given if he was in India today.
I have a dream for India
I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Over half a century ago, a number of Indians, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Constitution of India. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Indians who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But sixty-three years later, most of the Indians are still not free. Sixty-three years later , the life of the Dalit is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. Sixty-three years later , the tribal still lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. Sixty-three years later, the Muslim is still languishing in the corners of Indian society and find himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution, they were signing a promissory note to which every Indian was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, lower-caste men as well as upper-caste men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This block marks the spot at Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King gave his famous speech on Aug 28, 1963. [TCN Photo]
It is obvious today that India has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of lower castes, tribals, and religious minorities are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, India has given the marginalized people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind India of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of exploitation to the sunlit path of opportunity. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of communalism and casteism to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Muslims’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Twenty-thirteen is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the tribals needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in India until the Dalits is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Dalit community must not lead us to a distrust of all upper-caste people, for many of our Brahmin brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Muslim is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our Muslim brothers, cannot gain lodging in the houses of the towns and the apartments of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the tribal’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as Dalit children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by customs stating “For Brahmins Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Muslim in Kashmir cannot vote and a tribal in Chattisgarh believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Bihar, go back to Karnataka, go back to Andhra Pradesh, go back to Assam, go back to Gujarat, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the Indian dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”
I have a dream that one day on the vast land of Gujarat the sons of Muslim victims and the sons of Genocidal leaders will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Assam, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the caste or religious belief but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Chattisgarh, with its vicious political-capitalists complex, with its home minister having his lips dripping with the words of terror and explotation; one day right there in Chattisgarh, little tribal boys and tribal girls will be able to join hands with little non-tribal boys and non-tribal girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “saare jahaan se achha hindostan hamara, ham bulbule hain isske ye gulsitaan hamara. ..Mazhab nahi sikhata aapas mein bair rakhna, hindi hain ham, vatan hai hindostan hamara.”
And if India is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the deserts of Rajasthan. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of Manipur. Let freedom ring from the heightening Vindhyas of Madhya Pradesh!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped mountains of Kashmir!
Let freedom ring from the coasts of Malabar!
But not only that; let freedom ring from the deltas of Bengal!
Let freedom ring from Rann of Kutch!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Assam. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, upper-caste and lower-caste, Hindus and Muslims, Shias and Sunnis, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of Subhash Chandra Bose’s Azad Hind Fauj marching song, “qadam qadam barhaaye ja, khushi ke geet gaaye ja; ye zindagi hai qaum ki, tu qaum pe lutaaye jaa!”