Nagpur: The Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Sunday said, “All that’s old is not gold. Old, which is no longer usable, should be scrapped. Similarly, useful old things are definitely gold and should be accepted.”
Gadkari was speaking at a function to confer awards to former ISRO scientist Nambi Narayanan and ex-Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Dr Raghunath Maheshelkar, by the World Hindu Congress and Maitree Parivar Sanstha in Nagpur.
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Thursday 03 Oct. 2024
According to a report in local Times of India daily, the Union Minister further touched upon Hindutva. In lines with what RSS leaders like Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat often say, Gadkari stressed that people of India, irrespective of their faith, have the same lineage. “There is an image vs reality problem for Hindutva, Hindu and the Hindu way of life. Irrespective of beliefs, it is a value-based way of life. There is a need to research on the Hindu way of life and values. However, due to politics or political limitations, Hindutva is often termed to be a narrow thought. On the contrary, it is pluralistic and tolerant towards others,” said Gadkari.
“When Swami Vivekananda went for the World Religion Congress at Chicago, he did not say that his religion was supreme. Rather, he said whatever may be the practice it ultimately reaches the same God,” added Gadkari.
The ToI report further quoted Gadkari as saying that the dictionary meaning of the world secularism is respect towards all religions and not being non-aligned to faiths. “However, lately non-alliance to religion has become the meaning of secularism. Certain misconceptions that were created during the British Raj also need to be cleared,” said Gadkari.
“Swami Vivekananda had said the 17th century was that of the Mughals, the 19th of the British and 20th of America as superpowers. The 21st century belongs to India. This relates to the Hindu way of life and values which includes people of all faiths — those who pray in mosques or churches,” said Gadkari.
