“There are so many Gandhis in the country at present but all are far away from the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi that emphasises on village-centric economy and Gram Swaraj. Gandhiji had said that the real India lives in villages. But these people never gave a serious thought to real India,” said Shri Ram Madhav, member of All India Executive Council of RSS and former spokesperson of RSS, while speaking at a function organised by Vishwa Mangal Gou Gram Yatra Samiti in Gaiety Theatre, Shimla. He said the country can rise only through the overall development of villages and thousands of swayamsevaks of RSS are working day and night to make Gandhiji’s this dream true.
He was the main speaker at the function. He also released a book Rashtra Samriddhi ka Bhandar: Bharatiya Nasl ki Gayen, edited by Shri Narendra Kumar, Prant Prachar Pramukh of RSS. Shri Karta Ram, a veteran swayamsevak of Himachal Pradesh, presided over the function. Shri Srinivas Murthi and Mahant Suraj Nath, Kshetriya Sanyojak and state president of Yatra Samiti respectively also spoke at the function.
Shri Ram Madhav said Shri Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, was against the Gandhian model of village development. Quoting an example from the correspondence between Gandhiji and Nehru, he said, “Nehru had rejected the Gandhian model during the latter’s lifetime. Gandhiji was very much disturbed on this and wanted the details of his correspondence with Nehru to be published in Harijan that Nehru never allowed.”
He further said more than 60 to 65 per cent population of the country reside in more than five lakh villages. But the people in power never paid any attention to the problems of real India. He opined that we can’t become a superpower leaving villages ignored. According to him, “Since the ancient time, cow has been the nucleus of Indian economy. It is still the base of village economy. But after Independence, the government, going against the wishes of Gandhiji, refused to ban cow slaughter and even encouraged the export of beef. Now thousands of cows are butchered every day.”
He said the government spends Rs. 55,000 crore on subsidies on chemical fertilizers and insecticides per year. This practice has converted fertile land into barren and we consume poison not only in water but in all vegetables, milk and other eatable items due to use of these chemicals in the fields. In place of this, if we focus on fertilizers and insecticides made of cow dung and cow urine, we can save thousand crores of rupees and save our environment and health. “But it does not suit to the people in power because the influential lobby keeps them in ‘good humour’, he added.
Shri Ram Madhav appreciated the efforts to create a mass movement in favour of village-centric economy and cow protection. Shri Srinivas Murthi and Mahant Suraj Nath gave details of the Yatra and sub-yatras in the state and the region.
A poster exhibition depicting the benefits of cow protection was also organised at the Ridge.
