Lack of preparation stalls India’s ‘Vishwaguru’ dream: Bhagwat

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, addressing a volunteer training camp in Nagpur, declared that "India’s time has come" as the world struggles with conflicts, rising oil prices, and systemic confusion.

Nagpur: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Thursday declared that “India’s time has come” as the world grapples with conflict-driven models of development, soaring oil prices, and deep systemic confusion.

Speaking at the conclusion of an RSS volunteer training camp in Nagpur, an event also attended by prominent industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla as the chief guest, Bhagwat asserted that India is uniquely positioned to offer the holistic solutions the global community currently lacks.

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Referring to the West Asia conflict and how countries unconnected to it are also getting affected, Bhagwat said the world listens to those who wield power, and we need to make our country “supremely prosperous”.

“Countries that have no direct connection to the conflicts of the world are nevertheless being drawn into them. The war is between Iran and America, and oil prices are rising here,” the RSS chief said.

“We need to make our country supremely prosperous…the world listens to those who hold power,” he said, adding that even though the world knows that India speaks the truth, it is not accepted merely because it is the truth. “We see the powerful act arbitrarily, and those who do not have strength bow their heads and obey them. Whether you seize another country, drop bombs on someone, or cut off the world’s oil supply, it all happens because of power,” the RSS chief said.

India, being a nation of spiritual and religious life, is meant to offer “Dharma” to the world, he said.

As the world is entangled in quarrels, unable to find a middle path between development and destruction of the environment, it needs India because the element (“tatva”) that unites all these things is not present in any other land, Bhagwat said.

“The world says it needs a new path, and that path will be provided by India. So India’s time has come. But time alone does not make things happen. One must prepare for that time,” he said.

The world remains trapped in dilemmas involving individual rights, societal interests and environmental conservation, Bhagwat said, adding, “To give a person individual rights, society’s interest is compromised. If society needs to be given powers, individual person’s rights are suppressed.”

Highlighting environmental concerns, he said material growth is often pursued at the cost of nature, while environmental protection is frequently viewed as an obstacle to development. “For materialistic growth, environment will be exploited. And to protect the environment, (some people demand) stop the development. The world is stuck, and confused in such types of issues,” he said.

What is holding India back from becoming a “Vishwaguru” is the lack of preparation, the RSS chief said.

There are “people among us” who sow discord, and the forces who do not want India to become great are ready to create unrest in social life by finding small pretexts, the RSS chief further said.

“Thinking that if these (Indian) values become strong they will lose their position in the world, many elements are intent on influencing our traditions directly or indirectly. I will not go into more detail, the situation is before you, ” he said.

Birla in his speech lauded the RSS’s work, saying the 100-year-old organisation has always stood with society and nation amid challenges.