“India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters…” – is a tune that every Indian citizen is all too familiar with. Growing up, the National Pledge was a daily recital during school assemblies for most, if not all, of us. The values of courtesy, national pride, and fraternity were drilled into our heads through it. Despite reciting it every day of our lives, however, the story of birth of the pledge is not so widely known. But for natives of Visakhapatnam – it is another reason to swell up with pride, for it was here that the National Pledge was first written!
A solemn oath of allegiance to the Republic of India, the National Pledge was the work of a Telugu writer, Pydimarri Venkata Subba Rao, in 1962. At that time, Subba Rao was serving as the District Treasury Officer of Visakhapatnam, and he was also a bureaucrat, naturopathy doctor, and well-known Telugu writer.
Composing the Pledge, Subba Rao presented it to nationalist Tenneti Viswanadam, who passed it on to P V G Raju, the District Education Minister of the time. Following this, the pledge was read out for the first time in schools of Visakhapatnam in 1963!
Quickly gaining popularity hereon, the pledge was soon translated into various regional languages, including Hindi, Marathi, Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, and English.
In 1964, the Central Advisory Board on Education, during a meeting in Bangalore, recognized the significance of the pledge and directed that it be introduced in schools nationwide by January 26, 1965, Republic Day. The pledge became an integral part of school assemblies, fostering a sense of unity and patriotism among young Indians.
Contrary to popular belief, Mahatma Gandhi had no direct connection to the National Pledge of India as, in reality, it was the work of Pydimarri Venkata Subba Rao from Visakhapatnam, who intended to instill a sense of national pride and responsibility in students!
The pledge reads:
“India is my country. All Indians are my brothers and sisters. I love my country, and I am proud of its rich and varied heritage. I shall strive to be worthy of it. I shall respect my parents, teachers, and all elders and treat everyone with courtesy. To my country and all my people, I pledge my devotion. In their well-being and prosperity alone lies my happiness.”
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