Can we please change India’s National Pledge?

At a time when people are trying to reaffirm their committment towards creating a safer environment for everyone, especially women and children, via initiatives like the excellent #SafeCityPledge project on Twitter, I am reminded of India’s National Pledge. It’s a short five-sentence pledge that I remember reciting out aloud every single day of my school life. It goes like this…

India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters.

I love my country and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage.

I shall always strive to be worthy of it.

I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect and treat everyone with courtesy.

To my country and my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well-being and prosperity alone, lies my happiness.

While most of the pledge devotes itself to the glory of the nation and it’s people, I am drawn to one particular sentence…

I shall give my parents, teachers and all elders respect and treat everyone with courtesy.

This line talks about giving respect to parents, teachers and all elders, something that every “good” boy or girl is expected to do. But in my opinion, much more important than respecting elders is respecting every single individual. Elders deserve respect, but so does everyone around us, be it your spouse, or your sibling, or your driver, or your domestic help, or the courier guy, or your nephew/niece, or the shopkeeper, or the street urchin… in short, everyone. Every single person.

Equality is just an extension of respect.

So, maybe it is time to tweak the line from the National pledge to say,

I shall give all Indians respect and treat everyone with courtesy.

Just a small change, a baby-step, but one that can hopefully make home in the minds of the kids who recite the pledge every day.