“INTELLECTUAL honesty was the greatest quality of Thengadiji. His inspiring personality developed a number of dedicated and committed workers in various fields. It was due to these qualities the organisation (BMS) that he founded has today become the number one labour organisation of the country duly certified by the Government of India,? said Shri Madan Das, Sahsarkaryavah of RSS. He was speaking at Dattopant Thengadi Memorial Lecture?2007, organised by Swadeshi Vichar Kendra in New Delhi on November 17, 2007. The Lecture delivered by former Union Minister Shri Jagmohan and noted Supreme Court lawyer Shri Sanjay Pareekh, was organised to celebrate the birth anniversary of Thengadiji, which lies on November 10 but due to Diwali celebration the function was organised on November 17. Swadeshi Jagran Manch convenor Shri Murlidhar Rao was also present.
Shri Madan Das further said the national interest was supreme for Thengadiji. He used to say that India should become a powerful nation as the other developing countries of the world need a stronger nation to lead them, he added.
Delivering the lecture, Shri Jagmohan said the growing disparities and inequalities in various fields must be curbed and a balance should be maintained to stop further damage to environment. ?Economic structure should be changed. When we calculate our growth rate at nine per cent, we do not count at all the damage it caused to the environment. If we are losing our environmental assets the development becomes meaningless. In fact, the Indian way is the only way that can keep the humanity go. Instead of carrying our own flag of cultural greatness we have become the greatest ?smugglers? of our time. We ?smuggle? everything blindly that is western,? he said stressing the need to change the so-called modern technology also.
Describing Thengadiji as a great organiser, Shri Jagmohan said Thengadiji'sbook, The Third Way, explains his thinking very appropriately. ?He says in the book that until the feeling of change comes from inside, the change remain ineffective. The environment protection, which is being argued the world over, has detail mention in our Vedas, which instruct every human being to take only the much from the nature as much we need. Earth is our mother and we must respect, care and protect her as our own mother. The concept of exploitation of the nature in modern thoughts has also caused great damage to the environment all over the world. Until we change this thinking no seminar, symposium, law, etc. will benefit. We have to return to our basic Indian concept. We also need to develop the technology that does not damage the nature. The nature still has capacity to feed all of us, but we should not become greedy. The Indian concept of inter-dependence has to be practiced strictly and honestly,? he added.
Talking about the growing scarcity of water world over Shri Jagmohan further said the bad eating habits were also responsible for the growing water shortage. He said the mentality of not linking the problem with the root cause has also damaged us much. Coming down heavily upon the new world economic order he said the trading polices have developed an unhealthy competition among even the poor people of developed countries, which has also caused environment degradation.
Shri Sanjay Pareekh criticised the concept of sustainable development that has become completely meaningless. He said even the courts fail to understand it properly. Describing Thengadiji as an environmental visionary who said there should be no blind following of the world, he said Thengadiji was very conscious to the damages that the greedy man has done to the nature. The man'sgrowing appetite has lead to great damage to the nature. ?Sustainable development has been very popular everywhere, but the real concept has changed. Priority of the developed nations today is to establish maximum control over the resources of the world. They are implementing their agenda over the developed nations,? he said. Talking about the suicide by farmers in India he said the so-called booming economy has not come to the rescue of these farmers. Today MNCs control the fate of our farmers. If the nature is damaged, nothing will be saved. In spite of the repeated warnings, the situation is deteriorating day by day. He said the concept of ?sustainable development? should be replaced with the concept of ?nature'srights?. He said the economic growth has benefited only the rich and poor have only faced displacement and migration. He stressed the need to enact a comprehensive environment policy that protects the rights of everyone. He concluded his speech saying that those who talk about booming economy everyday must keep in mind that no one can eat the money alone. Dattopant Thengadi Memorial Lecture in Delhi
