‘Changing the regime never changes things’: Mohan Bhagwat as the RSS centenary year ends; calls for OTT regulation and action on drugs

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh closed its centenary year with its Vijayadashami Utsav in Nagpur today, Tuesday. After the shastra puja at the Reshimbagh ground, Sarsanghchalak Dr Mohan Bhagwat addressed swayamsevaks. Saying that a change of government alone does not change a country’s situation, he drew attention to the regulation of OTT platforms and the problem of drugs, according to reports from several outlets.

Key points of the speech

• Regime change: “People say that changing the regime will change the situation. But this has never happened. It did not happen earlier, and it will not happen now,” Bhagwat said, adding: “Look at what is happening in France, what is happening in Albania, and what happened in Nepal and Bangladesh” (Nagpur Today).
• Western influence: Saying “a storm has risen from the West”, he said it was challenging established systems and cultural values (Navbharat, Nagpur Today).
• OTT: Young people take in information without judging right from wrong; several countries have made rules on this, so governments and administrations should think seriously, especially about OTT platforms, he said (Navbharat, Free Press Journal).
• Drugs: Addiction is a serious national problem and the responsibility of parents, government, administration and society alike; the RSS will work on it, and drugs should be banned, he said, according to the Free Press Journal.
• Unity in diversity: India has been “one country, one society, and one nation since ancient times”. Attachment to one’s language, caste or faith “is not wrong”, but when the nation’s identity came first, India was an ideal for the world, he said (Daily Jagran).
• Protests: He told protesters, the government and political leaders not to politicise protests but to seek solutions to problems, according to Lokmat and Daily Jagran.

Mahatma Phule and Sant Ravidas remembered

Bhagwat remembered Sant Ravidas, whose 650th birth anniversary falls this year; Swami Shraddhanand; Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, born a hundred years ago; and Mahatma Jyotirao Phule, now in his bicentenary year, the Free Press Journal reported. In difficult times, he said, saints held society together through faith, devotion and harmony, according to Daily Jagran.

How the event went

The event began at 7.40 am. Bhagwat started with the customary shastra puja and offered flowers at the Smruti Mandir in memory of Dr Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, who founded the RSS. The chief guest was Sanjay Gupta, editor-in-chief of Dainik Jagran. Among those present, according to the Free Press Journal, were Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union minister Nitin Gadkari and former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar. Dr Hedgewar founded the Sangh in Nagpur on Vijayadashami in 1925, and programmes were held through the past year to mark the centenary.

Sources: Nagpur Today; Daily Jagran; Free Press Journal; Navbharat; Lokmat