Watch: Jawaharlal Nehru’s historic ‘Tryst with Destiny’ speech, delivered 70 years ago on this day

As India prepares for its 71st Independence day celebrations, we remember the powerful “Tryst with Destiny” speech by the first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, delivered just before midnight India achieved Independence on August 15, 1947.

The historic speech by Nehru was delivered in the Parliament House before the Indian Constituent Assembly marked the culmination of the Indian independence movement.

“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.”

“A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long supressed, finds utterance. It is fitting that at this solemn moment we take the pledge of dedication to the service of India and her people and to the still larger cause of humanity.”

70 years after, free from ‘British raj’ with 14 Prime Ministers till now, the current prime minister Narendra Modi will deliver his third Independence Day speech as the PM from the Red …read more