New Delhi, Oct 23 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for unity against divisive forces, saying that new challenges and social distortions had emerged over the past decades and that the responsibility to address them rested with everyone.
Addressing the Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav Global Sammelan in New Delhi, PM Modi emphasised the need to promote self-reliance and connect every citizen with the vision of a developed India by 2047.
“Times have changed in the past decades. New challenges have arisen for the country. New distortions have emerged in society. Today, the responsibility to resolve them rests with all of us,” the Prime Minister said.
“Today, we have to unite society against the divisive forces. We must awaken our citizens to the need for self-reliance. We must connect every citizen with the resolve for a developed India in 2047. We must become more active towards these objectives,” he added.
PM Modi said he had consistently kept young people at the centre of government policies and expressed happiness over the contributions made by the youth during the Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.
“In this journey, I have tried to keep youth in focus in all the policies. I am happy that young people have taken up several responsibilities during the Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav,” he said.
Highlighting an initiative undertaken by young members of the Chinmaya Mission, the Prime Minister said a group of youngsters had travelled extensively across the country and interacted with thousands of young people.
“My young friends have travelled for 300 days, covering 40,000 kilometres. During this journey, they have met more than one lakh young people. I want to thank the entire team for this,” he said.
Referring to the Upanishadic expression ‘Vayam Amritasya Putrah’, meaning ‘We are the children of immortality’, PM Modi said it did not imply physical immortality but rather the eternal nature of consciousness.
“The meaning of ‘Bharat’ is someone who is engaged in knowledge and research,” he said, highlighting India’s longstanding intellectual and spiritual traditions.
Recalling India’s 75th year of Independence, PM Modi said he had wanted the milestone to inspire the vision of a developed nation while also highlighting the country’s enduring civilisational values.
“When the country marked 75 years of Independence, I thought we should not only make this occasion a platform to inspire the vision of a developed India but also bring to life the spirit of India, which knows how to live by immortal ideas and, drawing on its experience spanning thousands of years, can express concern for humanity across generations,” he said.
The Prime Minister said Swami Chinmayananda had devoted his life to raising awareness about the nation’s cultural heritage and development.
“Those of us who think about the country’s interests should work to make the nation aware and developed. Swami Chinmayananda devoted his entire life to this mantra. With the same devotion with which he spoke about spiritual subjects, he also spoke passionately and extensively about matters concerning the nation, because our nation is the birthplace of our culture and the foundation of our existence,” PM Modi said.
He also recalled Swami Chinmayananda’s birth centenary and the release of a commemorative coin in his honour in 2015. PM Modi described the spiritual leader’s life as a remarkable confluence of knowledge, action and devotion.
Highlighting the government’s efforts to reform education, the Prime Minister said the National Education Policy was introduced to meet the needs of a new India.
He said the policy placed importance on India’s knowledge traditions, education in the mother tongue, modern science and emerging technologies.
–IANS
jk/dpb
