Guard against sinister designs to harm India: VP Dhankhar

Kurukshetra, Dec 8 (IANS) In a veiled reference to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday cautioned against the “sinister designs” of some internal and international forces attempting to harm India.

Addressing the International Gita Mahotsav, VP Dhankhar said, “Using money power to push a particular narrative, these forces, in a coordinated manner, want to damage our economy. Their sinister design and pernicious objective are to taint, tarnish, and diminish our Constitutional institutions, thereby derailing our growth trajectory.”

“Such powers cannot be ignored, the Gita has given us the message that when the time comes we need to crush these forces and attack them,” said the Vice President.

He said the message he wants to give from the holy land of Kurukshetra is that of “nation first”. ”There is no scope for dilution in patriotism. It should be pure and hundred per cent.”

The Vice President also sent a message to habitual critics. “Some people are a recipe for chaos. They can only be critical, they can't think in a positive way. My message to them is to understand the import of the Gita.”

At a time when the weaker sections are being helped to emerge from poverty, these critics, with distorted thinking, even question the official data, prepared for the sake of planning welfare schemes, that state that there are 80 crore poor in the country, he said

Equating  governance with a Yagya, VP Dhankar said, “The dream to make India developed by 2047 is like a Yagya in which everyone will have to give offerings to make the Yagya successful and beneficial for the country.”

Highlighting the diversity in the country, he said, “Just imagine the kind of diversity we have and all this converges to unity.”

Calling for collective efforts, he said, there should be healthy competition but that should not mean a war. “In today’s world, there are no rivals.”

“People may have a different point of view, a counter view, but that needs to be respected in a country with diversity like ours,” he said.

The International Gita Mahotsav -- 2024 is being celebrated in Kurukshetra, Haryana, the birthplace of the Bhagavadgita from November 28 to December 15. The festival is showcasing a divine confluence of spirituality, culture, and art.

Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Saini said the International Gita Mahotsav has achieved immense success and popularity since 2016. Lakhs of people from India and abroad are attending the Bhagavadgita Mahotsav. Last year, approximately 45 to 50 lakh people participated, and a similar turnout is expected this year.

He said this year Tanzania is the partner country for the International Gita Mahotsav, while Odisha is the partner state.

--IANS

rch/dan