New Delhi: BJP national president Nitin Nabin on Monday slammed the opposition parties for working with a “mindset of division” and insulting Vande Mataram, and asserted that the people of India will change their mindset.
Speaking at a Samrasta Sankalp Diwas event to mark the 650th birth anniversary of Sant Guru Ravidas at Talkatora Stadium here, Nabin said India’s culture and heritage have faced challenges over the years, but their roots are strong enough to withstand them.
“People ruled this country for hundreds of years, but they failed to uproot the foundations of our culture. Even today, there are some people who work with a mindset of division in society.
“Vande Mataram, which laid the foundation of India’s freedom struggle and became a patriotic anthem for our martyrs and freedom fighters, is still being insulted by some people in this country,” the BJP president said.
“But I tell them: the soil of this country has such strength that if the minds of people like Lodi and Sikandar could be transformed, then in the times to come, the strength of India’s soil will also transform the minds of those who have insulted Vande Mataram. The people of India will change their mindset,” Nabin said.
Hitting out at the previous Congress governments, Nabin said attempts were made to divide the country’s resources along religious and social lines.
“But our leader said that the first right over the country’s resources belongs to the poor, whose blessings brought this government to power,” he said.
Nabin said government schemes are framed keeping the last person in society in mind and without discrimination based on caste, community or identity.
“The prime minister says that development schemes must reach the last person in society. When he enters Parliament by bowing before this sacred temple of democracy, he says in his very first speech that his government will be for the poor and dedicated to the poor,” Nabin said.
He said the BJP has launched the Samrasta Sankalp Abhiyan based on Ravidas’ ideas of social harmony.
“At a time when society was marked by deep social inequalities and several social evils, his thoughts and efforts struck a strong blow against these practices and laid the foundation of social harmony across the country,” he said.
He also said Ravidas’ ideas and struggle helped protect Indian society and Sanatan traditions during a period of foreign invasions and attempts at religious conversion.
“When foreign invasions took place, and large-scale attempts were being made to lead people towards religious conversion, Ravidas’ ideas and his struggle also played a role in protecting the Indian society and its Sanatan traditions,” he said.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who also attended the event, said the sacred soil brought from Varanasi will be taken to every district and settlement in the national capital so that Ravidas’ teachings reach people.
“It is our endeavour that this sacred soil reaches every home and every settlement, and that through this soil, the teachings and blessings of Gurudev reach every person,” she said.
Gupta said the year-long celebrations of Ravidas’ 650th birth anniversary will be taken to every street and neighbourhood through various programmes.
At the event, urns containing sacred soil from Varanasi were distributed to representatives of Delhi’s districts. The urns will be taken to different districts and settlements as part of the Samrasta Sankalp Abhiyan.
