We may no longer blame it on fate or on the British Government. Millions of our land who inhabit it must shape its destiny. Our new state must belong to the people not only by the letter of the Constitution, but in its function from day to day. Democracy for us cannot end with parliamentary government and the right of “free speech” for those who may. It cannot be confined to the exercise of the powers of debate in New Delhi or other capitals of India. Our people everywhere, in the cities and the villages, in towns and and in hamlets, must be the owners and architects of our legacy and our destiny. To that kind of endeavour we are pledged. We should constantly remind ourselves of the solemn pledges contained in the Independence Declaration of January 1930. We should all be ever aware that the masses whom Gandhi made potent are the one single largest factor of our liberation. Their emancipation must now begin and be speedily concluded...

Excerpted from a piece that appeared in the ‘Indian Express’, August 1947