Whole country celebrated Independence Day 2017 yesterday in complete unity. However, there was one thing that “divided” or say “confused” the people.
It was the count of Independence Day.
While a section of media claimed that it was 70th Independence Day, there were many who called it 71st. And when there is a confusion, there is RVCJ to clear it.
We researched the matter in detail and tried to find how actually it became a 71st Independence Day. Mathematically, it’s obvious that if we got the freedom in 1947, celebrated 1st Anniversary in 1948, 10th in 1957, 50th in 97, 60th in 2007, 65th in 2012 then it was 70th anniversary yesterday.
Let’s try to understand it with one more example. A kid that is born today i.e. 16th Aug 2017 will celebrate its 1st Birthday next year which means his 10th Birthday will be in 2027, 20th in 2037 and similarly 70th in 2087. It will not suddenly become his 71st birthday in 2087.
Also, if we check, countries like Canada & USA celebrate their Independence day with the same method. Canada foundation date is on July 1, 1867 and celebrated its 150th anniversary this year and not 151st.
Similarly, USA foundation date is 1776 and celebrated their 240th Independence in 2016.
But let’s see how and where our count changed went into the wrong side-
As we mentioned above, It was the 50th Anniversary in 1997 and 60th Anniversary in 2007.
Manmohan Singh who was the Prime Minister in 2007 called it 60th Anniversary of Independent India. Here is an excerpt from his speech.
My dear countrymen, brothers, sisters and dear children
Today we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our Independence. My greetings to you all on this day of national celebration.
In 2012 too, it was going right and we celebrated the 65th Anniversary. Check out the excerpt from speech of Manmohan Singh.
My dear countrymen, brothers, sisters and dear children,
I greet you all on this anniversary of our Independence.
“The leaders of our freedom movement, under the stewardship of Mahatma Gandhi, had dreamt of an independent and prosperous India. On this day in 1947, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru took the first step towards the realization of that dream by hoisting the Tricolour at the Red Fort. The journey we began on 15 August, 1947 is now 65 years old. We have achieved much in these 65 years.
The problem started when in 2013 during his last speech at 66th Anniversary he didn’t mention the count of Anniversary. You can read the speech here.
And then in May 2014, Narendra Modi was elected as the new Prime Minister. In his first speech of Independence that was 67th Anniversary, he too didn’t mention the count.
Meanwhile, media had already started doing confused reporting. They called Independence Day 2011 as 65th, 2014 as 68th and so on. Have a look-
Then in 2015, when Prime Minister’s official website called the 68th Independence Day as 69th, another major part of the media started reporting wrong way. Check out the screen shot-
From there on, the series of wrong reporting started. In 2016, Narendra Modi himself declared the Independence Day 2016 as 70th Anniversary. Check out an excerpt from his speech.
My dear countrymen,
From the ramparts of Red Fort, I greet 125 crore fellow countrymen – within and outside India, on the auspicious occasion of Independence Day.
On this 70th festival of freedom, we have a new resolve, a new resolution, a new enthusiasm, a new vitality to take country to new and greater heights. Our freedom reminds us of the sacrifice of our freedom fighters and their devotion to the cause of freedom through struggle and sacrifice. On this occasion, we remember those young people who went willingly to gallows. We are breathing today in free India, thanks to Mahatma Gandhi, Sardar Patel, Pandit Nehru and many other great leaders and people who struggled and worked consistently towards freedom of the country.
This is how Independence Day 2017 became 71st Anniversary of Independent India officially by the government.
Here’s screenshot of articles from Times Of India (Written in 2007 and 2017):-
You can see the usage of words “60TH INDEPENDENCE DAY & 71ST INDEPENDENCE DAY”. This means even media was going right till 2007.
We feel government should correct this confusion because other countries don’t calculate the independence day this way. No one counts the 1st day of birthday or independence as 1st year. If government doesn’t correct it then we will have to live with this wrong counting and we will celebrate 72nd Independence day in 2018. We wonder what will happen during 100th independence day celebration? Will it be in 2046 or 2047 now?
FUN FACT:- Pakistan got independence on 14th August 1947 and they celebrated 70th Independence day in 2017
Canada got Independence on 1st July 1867 and they celebrated 150th Independence day in 2017
India got independence on 15th August 1947 and we celebrated 71st Independence day in 2017.
Every other country in world calculates the independence day the way Canada calculated, even we were calculating it correctly till 2012 as explained above.
