Long Live Liberty Poem by Dr Tapan Kumar Pradhan

We are a people of peerless unity
Come what may we've pledged solidarity:
Though some of us may demand
A separate Dalit Land
It testifies only to our sheer diversity -
            Long live fraternity! !

Ours is a land of love affinity
Among all faiths now there is abiding amity:
Now Hindu, Muslim and Sikhs
In our parliament intermix
And deliberate amicably to remove hostility -
            Cheers to secularity! !

Ours is a country that values integrity
We allow no favours to any caste, community:
We have reserved various positions
For Adivasis and Harijans
To demonstrate to the world our impartiality -
            Long live equality! !

We are a race under no one's captivity
And when time comes we shall defy gravity:
Though we have joint collaborations
For which we borrow foreign loans
That does not mean that we feed on charity -
            Kudos to sovereignty! !

We are a nation of growing prosperity
We have plenty of reserves to fight calamity:
And we produce so much rice
That we export at cheap price
For starvation deaths have now become a rarity -
            Three cheers humanity! !

Ours is a nation that is all magnanimity
We regard warfare as sheer absurdity:
Even if some neighbours
Meddle with our affairs
We just ignore their antics to maintain amity -
            Long live liberty! ! !

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(on the 60th anniversary of India's independence)