The RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat delivered the annual Vijaydashami speech on 12 October 2024 at Nagpur in the Indian state of Maharastra. Here are some key excerpts from his speech
- It is on expected lines that certain powers whose vested interests are affected by our country’s rise in the world that they would let Bharat grow only within certain limits. This commitment of the countries that claim to be liberal, democratic and committed to world peace vanishes as soon as the question of their security and self-interest arises. Then they do not hesitate to attack other countries or overthrow their democratically elected governments through illegal and/or violent means. All these things can be understood by observing the sequence of events happening, both inside Bharat and around the world. The deliberate attempt to tarnish Bharat’s image based on lies or half-truths is clearly visible.
- Recently, the violent coup that took place in Bangladesh has the immediate and local reasons which are just one dimension of those events. The practice of unprovoked brutal atrocities on the Hindu community residing there was repeated.This time, in protest against those atrocities, the Hindu community there got organised and came out of their homes to defend themselves, hence some defence could be ensured. But as long as this tyrannical fundamentalist nature exists there, the sword of danger will hang over the heads of all the minority communities including the Hindus. That is why the illegal infiltration from Bangladesh into Bharat and the population imbalance caused by it has become a matter of serious concern even among the common people. The mutual harmony and the national security too come under scanner due to this illegal infiltration. The Hindu community which is reduced to a minority in Bangladesh will need the help of all those who are in favour of generosity, humanity and harmony, especially the Bharatiya government and Hindus from all over the world. Hindu community across the world should learn the lesson that being unorganised and weak is like inviting atrocities by the wicked.
- Words like ‘Deep State’, ‘Wokeism’, ‘Cultural Marxist’ are in discussion these days. In fact, they are the declared enemies of all cultural traditions. Complete destruction of values, traditions and whatever is considered virtuous and auspicious is a part of the modus operandi of this group. The first step of this modus operandi is to bring the mind-shaping systems and institutions of the society under one’s influence – for example, the education system and educational institutions, media, intellectual discourse, etc., and to destroy the thoughts, values and belief of the society through them. In a society living together, an identity-based group is motivated to separate on the basis of its actual or artificially created specialty, demand, need or a problem. A feeling of victimhood is created in them. By fanning discontent, that element is pulled apart from the rest of the society, and made aggressive against the system. Direct conflicts are created by finding fault lines in the society. An atmosphere of anarchy and fear is created by intensifying distrust and hatred towards the system, laws, governance, administration etc. This makes it easy to establish one’s dominance over that country.
- In a multiparty democratic system of governance, there is competition among parties to gain power. If petty selfish interests in society become more important than mutual harmony or the unity and integrity of the nation; or if the harmony of society and the pride and integrity of the nation are considered secondary in the competition among parties, then in such party politics, their modus operandi is to stand in support of one party and advance their destructive agenda in the name of ‘Alternative Politics’. This is not a fictional story but a reality that has happened in many countries of the world. As a result of this revolution, the stability, peace and prosperity of life can be clearly seen to be in danger in the developed countries of the western world. We have seen this system working from the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ to what happened recently in the neighbouring Bangladesh. We are seeing similar evil attempts all around Bharat – especially in the border and tribal areas.
- The distorted propaganda and poor values spread by various systems and institutions are negatively affecting the minds, words and deeds of the younger generation in Bharat. Mobile phones have now reached the hands of children as well. There is little to no control over what is being shown there and what our children are watching. The content is so disgusting that even mentioning it would be a violation of decency. There seems to be an urgent need for legal monitoring over advertisements and perverted visual content in our homes and society. The drug addiction spreading like wildfire among the young generation is also hollowing the society from within. Values that lead to virtuousness will have to be revived. It is the result of the decay of values that in a country that practices “MaatrivatParadaareshu”(treat the women of other people as mother), women are facing incidents like rape in many places. The incident in Kolkata’s R. G. Kar Hospital is one of the most shameful incident that has tarnished the entire society. The whole society stood with the doctors protesting and demanding prompt and sensitive action. But even after such a heinous crime, the despicable efforts made by some people to protect the criminals show how the nexus of crime, politics and poisonous culture is ruining us. Our view towards women – “MaatrivatParadaareshu” – is our value tradition that has been passed on for generations. Not being aware or neglecting or despising such values in families and in the media from which the society is getting entertainment as well as is being automatically educated, is proving very costly. We will have to revive the system of enlightening these traditional values through family, society and media.
- We can see the erosion of values and the tactics of divisive elements to break the society across Bharat today. There is an attempt to create conflict by creating separation on the basis of caste, language, province etc. Arrangements are being made so that the society, entangled in petty selfishness and small identities, does not understand the all-consuming crisis looming over their heads until it is too late. Due to this, today, Punjab, Jammu-Kashmir, Ladakh on the north-western border of the country; Kerala, Tamil Nadu on the sea border; and the entire 5 Purvanchal from Bihar to Manipur are disturbed. All the situations mentioned earlier in this speech are present in all these states as well.
- There is a sudden increase in the incidents in the country that incite fanaticism without any reason. There may be dissatisfaction in the mind about the situation or policies, but there are democratic ways to express it and oppose them. Instead of following these ways, resorting to violence, attacking a particular section of the society, resorting to violence without reason, trying to create fear, is hooliganism. The attempts to incite this or doing it in a planned manner, has been called as ‘Grammar of Anarchy’ by revered Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar. Incidents of unprovoked massive stone pelting on the processions of Shri Ganesh Visarjan and the tense situation that followed are examples of the same grammar that happened during the recent Ganeshotsava. It is the job of the administration to prevent such incidents from happening, and to control and punish the culprits immediately. But until they arrive, the society has to protect itself and its property along with the lives of the loved ones. Hence, there is a need for the society to always remain fully alert and prepared and to identify these evil tendencies and those who support them.
- A global problem in the environment around us which is also being experienced in our country in recent years is the bad condition of the environment. The seasonal cycle has become irregular and violent. The so-called developmental journey of man, based on the incomplete ideological basis of consumerism and materialism, has almost become a journey of destruction of the entire creation including humans. We should have made our developmental path on the basis of the complete, holistic and integrated vision based on our Bharatiya tradition, but we did not do so. At present, such thoughts are being heard a little bit, some things have been accepted superficially and a few have been changed. Much more needs to be done. We are also suffering the consequences of blindly following the incomplete developmental path that leads to destruction in the name of development.
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