India’s attainment of freedom, from British rule, will remain one of the most defining moments of world history.
“At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom,” said Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, as he announced the nation’s independence in 1947.
The life and freedom that India has seen, in the last seven and half decades since then, are evidenced in the tremendous progress made by the nation. Often, against all odds.
In 2022, as India celebrates 75 years of freedom, it is already the sixth largest economy in the world, as per the World Bank’s 2021 rankings by GDP. The nation is poised to soar much higher, very soon, even though it is going through economic upheavals, like the rest of the post-pandemic world.
This year also marks 50 years of diplomatic relations between Bahrain and India. Bahrain became independent, coincidentally, on the same day that India had become independent, 15 August; India in 1947 and Bahrain in 1971.
Bahrain’s independence meant it was no longer a British protectorate but a sovereign state that soon established, among many other things, strong Indo-Bahrain relations. The bilateral relations between the two nations have always been exceptionally cordial and mutually beneficial.
Both countries have bolstered excellent trade and economic relations where “the key sectors include IT, construction and real estate, food products, iron ore and aluminium, energy, health and financial services” according to the Indian Ambassador to Bahrain His Excellency Piyush Srivastava, who said this in one of his interviews in 2021.
The bilateral trade and investment between India and Bahrain have shown steady growth in recent years, with the bilateral trade amounting to around US$ one billion in 2019-20.
India is among the largest investors in Bahrain with a total investment of about US$ 1.74 billion, including the investment made by the Indian community in Bahrain, as of 2019. Also, Bahrain is the fourth largest investor in India from the GCC, with an investment of US$ 180 million in 2019.
his official visit to India
In 1947, when the British finally left the subcontinent after three hundred years in India, they had partitioned the land into two independent nation states: Hindu-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan. It brought enormous pain to both sides, and some of the wounds of the partition are still not completely healed. But, India has been marching on, despite the numerous internal and external challenges it had to face, and it keeps facing regularly.
On 21st June 1952, when India’s Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru stopped in Bahrain, en route to London, it was perhaps the first time that a leader of an independent India visited this island nation. On 24th Aug 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Bahrain, it was the most recent occasion when the heads of the two nations met.
When the then ruler of Bahrain, His Highness the late Shaikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, was on his official state visit to India, I had been personally blessed with an opportunity to not only accompany him as a part of the media delegation but also to interview the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
I have also subsequently covered for the newspapers, by visiting India with them, the Indian visits of His Majesty King Hamad, of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, and also of the former Prime Minister His Highness the late Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
Watching their interactions, I have always felt that the connection between India and Bahrain is much stronger and much deeper than many tend to think, and the Indo-Bahrain relations will only have an upward thrust in years to come.
The election of the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, is one of the many proofs that India has seen enormous positive societal changes. For the first time, one of the members of the marginalized tribal community has been elected to India’s highest constitutional post. It is a clear indication that the nation that had suffered for a long time, with issues such as ‘untouchability’ and ‘underprivileged castes and tribes’ has slowly overcome the challenges.
The 75-year celebrations of independence are aptly titled, ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’ which means ‘elixir of energy of independence’; elixir of inspirations of the warriors of freedom struggle; elixir of new ideas and pledges; and elixir of Aatmanirbharta (self-reliance and self-sufficiency).
India has been emerging as a self-reliant global economy, and it is definitely time to celebrate its new tryst with destiny.
By Soman Baby