Nehru Tryst With Destiny Speech

[Melissa Russian]

Tryst with Destiny" was an English-language speech by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, to the Indian Constituent Assembly in the Parliament House, on the eve of India's Independence, towards midnight on 14 August 1947. The speech spoke on the aspects that transcended Indian history. It is considered to be one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century[1] and to be a landmark oration that captures the essence of the triumphant culmination of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule in India. He declared the end of the colonial era and called on citizens to recognize the promise and opportunity of the moment:

"Long years ago, we made a tryst with destiny. Now the time has come 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, 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 suppressed, finds utterance."

"...bring freedom and opportunity to the common man, to the peasants and workers of India; to fight and end poverty and ignorance and disease; to build up a prosperous, democratic and progressive nation, and to create social, economic and political institutions which will ensure justice and fullness of life to every man and woman."

"All of us, to whatever religion we may belong, are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations. We cannot encourage communalism or narrow-mindedness, for no nation can be great whose people are narrow in thought or in action."

The Congress Sunday shared former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru's handwritten draft of his famous first Independence day speech in which he had written about the country's "date with destiny" but delivered it as "tryst with destiny".

Congress general secretary, Communications, Jairam Ramesh also shared the video of Nehru's speech delivered at the midnight session of the Constituent Assembly as India achieved independence on August 15, 1947.

Mr Ramesh said on Twitter, "75 years ago, a little after midnight, Nehru gave his immortal 'Tryst with Destiny' speech. Here's his handwritten draft dated 14.8.47. He had penned it as 'date with destiny', but in a moment of true genius delivered it as 'tryst with destiny'."

Mr Nehru in his draft note wrote, "Long years ago we made a date with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the strike of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will wake to life and freedom."

"Our 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 the nation, long suppressed, 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...," Mr Nehru said in his draft note of August 14, 1947.

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Last week saw the Republic Day celebrations of India. This day marked the adoption of the Constitution of India and the country's transition from a dominion to a republic that came into effect on 26th January 1950.

Earlier on 15th August 1947 (the year my mum and dad were married) the country was partitioned after British colonial rule and saw the exit of the Last Viceroy of India (Earl Lord Louis Mountbatten).

The first Prime Minister of India was Jawaharlal Nehru. A Kashmiri pandit, he was educated at Harrow School and Trinity College Cambridge where he graduated and trained in Law. He became a barrister before returning to India.

This phenomenal education goes some way to explain his powerful oratory skills that led to him writing and delivering that famous "Tryst with Destiny" speech on the eve of independence - "For on the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India shall awake, to freedom".

The link is simply the fact, that throughout my commercial career, I became accustomed to seniors rephrasing Nehru at business reviews to remind me of my accountabilities, especially my very first business review:

"We agreed to give you $x million investment that you put forward, in exchange for which, you would deliver $y million in sales and manage the P&L to deliver a gross profit of $z million before tax and central operating overheads" .

An hour or so in duration, it went remarkably quickly for me. But for some, it felt like an eternity of being exposed to steam and pressure under cross-examination as seniors scrutinised all the numbers and asked tough questions.

I looked forward to business reviews. It was an opportunity to showcase my abilities and to convince seniors that I was in control, and that I knew my business from the inside to the outside. I knew Africa from West to East and down to the Southern cluster. It gave them confidence in me and established my credibility with the senior executive team. The credibility and confidence to deliver the numbers was such that seniors would offer me more cost budgets in exchange for a higher revenue and profit line - something that seniors do not do too easily. They'd ask,"if we gave you an extra 20% on the cost line, how much extra could you give in the sales line?"

You see, business, indeed, any business is tough. It is hard. It can be stressful. It is always unpredictable because the execution of strategies and plans is always dependent on the one thing in an organisation that is unpredictable - its people!

If I did everything myself, things would get done to my way and always with 100% satisfaction. But I cannot do everything myself. That is why I have as many as ten reports in charge of execution and implementation of my plans that I have agreed with the senior executive team. These reports are likened to my disciples on whom I relied to deliver the results.

When a country manager declared he/she will not deliver the budget, I had to remind the Country Manager that "we had made a tryst with destiny, and that the time had come to redeem that pledge, not wholly or in full measure but substantially".

I faced currency devaluation issues in Ghana and Nigeria. Yet I proactively reallocated shortfalls across my markets and delivered the consolidated total - for which those other countries were rewarded. I 'managed' my markets and handled issues through early warning mechanisms that enabled me to intervene while there was time to recoup the shortfalls.

Hell, even the lady who served refreshments at meetings and cleared up dirty cups wanted to be rebadged as "Refreshments Director". The lady on the switchboard wanted her job to be re-graded as "Communications Network Director" and you get the drift, right?

But a common finding in my experience was that where people embraced responsibility and fancy titles, they refused to be held accountable for results delivery. This makes it hard if local leaders don't embrace accountability - to accept that the buck for that geographic domain or therapeutic area or business area rests solely with them.

Sadly, they were in for a surprise. I'd remind them of that tryst we made. I'd go on to say that all those reasons had to be managed by him or her, and make a firm reminder that we agreed the numbers to be delivered that we BOTH signed (metaphorically) in our blood.

The message I guess is that if you are commercially in charge of a business, if you take a leaf out of my book, you have the greatest chance of success through people if you enforce rigorous accountability rather than focus on those people's responsibilities and stop accepting the same set of recycled excuses at each business review

Where International Sales are concerned, not many apex seniors can deliver the numbers - certainly not in Africa. One reason is that perhaps down the organisation tree, they do not have staff that can deliver on their tryst with destiny?

Maybe there is too much accommodating of disappointing results with the same set of recycled excuses? If so, then such acceptance has crept in under the Boardroom door after my time in a corporate life.

In my time, I'd gotten used to the fact that more regional seniors' careers ended in the Boardroom than began in that room. The Boardroom was a brutal killing field for non-delivery of results. I witnessed senior country or area directors dig their own graves trying to make up answers to questions, when they should have simply said "I do not know, but I will find out".

The first quarter reviews will be underway in late February. Many will declare results "below budget". By the end of the year, that gap between budget and actual will widen - almost guaranteed for Sub Saharan Africa - and we are just finishing the first month of the budget year.

And I can tell you of numerous seniors who were easy and very comfortable to recite such sentences. Those seniors reached high places by being demanding, not being accommodating for poor results delivery.

International business is tough. Many seniors across Africa can testify to how challenging it is - and there is immense reliance of having to deliver results through other people and being held as the accountable person for their people's inability to deliver their accountabilities. It is a complex weave to manage if you are making good rugs.

My forthcoming book shares my experience of international business through distributors in emerging markets. It fills a much-needed gap in understanding go-to-market models involving distributors, the models that can deliver critical mass from those that cannot (and why), as,well as how to find real talent that is capable of delivering sustained results in the numbers.

This is a timeless speech and captures the ethos and core values of the Indian populace. It is very enriching to reflect on this speech 69 years after it was delivered. Here are my top 3 favorite sections of the speech.

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