New Delhi: Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankar said, "It is painful to see some people going abroad and trying to malign their own country from there." While releasing the commemorative postage stamp on the 200th birth anniversary of Swami Dayanand Saraswati in New Delhi, Dhankar said that a true believer of Bharat and Bharteeyata would always think of his or her country first and contribute to the nation's reform process "rather than making unfounded comments on our institutions from foreign soil."
He suggested bringing some restrictions on such activities of maligning the name of the country from foreign soil. It may be recalled that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his visit to Cambridge University said that democracy and Parliament in India are under threat. The statement made by the Gandhi scion raked up a controversy with the MPs of the ruling party at the Centre have been demanding an apology from Rahul Gandhi in the just concluded budget session of Parliament.
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Dhankar further stated that some foreign-based organisations in their attempt to restrict India's progress always try to malign our country. Recalling the contributions made by Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Dhankar said that during the colonial rule, when India had lost its spiritual and cultural moorings, "Swami Dayanand Saraswati reinfused Vedic wisdom with a rational outlook to revitalise India's civilizational ethos."
Dhankar reminded that Swami Dayanand Saraswati was the first to give a clarion call for Swaraj, which was amplified by Lokmanya Tilak and went on to become 'Jan Andolan'. "Independence, for Swamiji, was not detached from true independence of the mind and spirit," Dhankar said. The Vice-President said that Swami Dayanand Saraswati's vision and action for combating social evils continue to remain relevant till date, and find resonance in government initiatives such as 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' and the New Education Policy.
"Dedicated efforts of Swami Dayanand Saraswati for the eradication of social evils like untouchability and empowerment of women through education laid the foundation for social welfare in independent India," said Dhankar. Dhankar underlined Swami Dayanand's contribution towards ensuring that languages like Sanskrit and Hindi get their deserved recognition. "There is no language in the world and no grammar, which has the depth that Sanskrit is possessed of. It is like the mother of all languages," said Dhankar.
