It is an absolute privilege and an honour to deliver the 4th P. Parameswaran lecture organised by Bharatheeya Vicharakendram in Thiruvananthapuram.The memorial lecture in the honour, in the memory of one of the greatest sons of Bharat. He happens to be in the front league of idealogues and thinkers of Hindu thought process in this century. We are celebrating by way of this lecture one of the finest intellectuals committed to social work and such a son of the soil being honoured in the land of Kerala, North zone territory.
It is a testament that our civilisational values thrive, A civilisation is known only by one fundamental consideration, does it really honour its great sons and that has been the theme in last few years. Our forgotten heroes, unsung heroes, we have remembered them.
Kerala has been the cradle of intellectual discourse, cultural enlightenment, and spiritual pursuits. This is a land that birth legends for Adi Shankharacharya who expounded the philosophy of Advaita Vedanta to Narayana Guru who led the modern message by his social reform and by his team of social reformers. We are celebrating the memory of one of them.
This land is also home to some of the most revered temples, including Sabrimala, Padmanabhaswamy temple, and Guruvayur drawing millions of devotees, they get inspired and motivated. The faith and devotion that permeates these sacred spaces reminds us of the eternal values that hold our nation together.
Our values are sublime, full of religiosity and spirituality, righteousness and self service. This fertile sacred geography also birthed Shri P. Parameswaran ji who received his values with birth. His unwavering commitment to Bharatiya values, his deep understanding of Indian ethos and his relentless pursuit of national unity continues to inspire generations.
His vision for a self-reliant Bharat, culturally rooted and spiritually awakened, resonates profoundly across the nation. When we talk about the confluence of East and West, we remember Shri Vivekananda, Swami Vivekananda and his historic address at Chicago that was rendered at the World Council of Religions in 1893. But who rekindled it? Who ignited the flame in us? Who inspired us in modern times? By the essence of that address that stirred global minds, it was none other than Shri P. Parameswaran.
In 1993, hundred years after that event, it was Parameswaran ji who invited the world to reflect on Swamiji. His life, his legacy and his message. The Government of India has rightly recognised this great son of the soil, a great ideologue of Hindu thought process.
A messenger of Bharatiya Sanskriti, an epicentre in a sense who disseminated sublimity of our values with Padma Shri in early 2000 and in 2018 with the second highest civilian award of Padma Vibhushan, but these decorations do not completely define the man in whose memory we are having this lecture.
The tribute which we can pay to such towering figures who amplify our values, epitomise our cultural essence, the best of human values, is to follow what he exemplified. We must emulate the value system that he professed.
Ladies and gentlemen, I greatly commend the subject or theme of this lecture, “Demography, Development and Democracy, Shaping the Future of Bharat”-- Nothing could be more contemporaneously relevant than this theme, and this theme, when the theme is a tribute to Rashtriya Rishi who dedicated his journey to welfare of humanity through Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh, an organisation spinally rooted in our cultural ethos and now in the centennial year, I appeal to everyone in two years we will be celebrating the birth centenary of this great son of the soil.
I am sure steps will be taken by the organisers in concert with similar outfits so that his message goes around to the entire country and the world. If I have to put in summation the thought process of P. Parameswaran ji, we all are Bharatiya. भारतीयता हमारी पहचान है। राष्ट्रहित हमारा धर्म है, राष्ट्र कल्याण सर्वोपरि है। कोई भी हित व्यक्तिगत हो या राजनीतिक या सामाजिक, राष्ट्रहित से ऊपर नहीं है।
And therefore, I commend the organisers for having so thought about it. The theme calls upon me to first reflect on the state of the nation. There was a time, and I had the occasion to see it, as a member of parliament in 1989, as a union minister in 1990-91, an atmosphere that did not
inspire us. That was alarmingly worrisome, full of concern, and now our Bharat is brimming with positivity and possibility.
It is full of hope and aspirations. All around, all pervasive, an ecosystem of hope and possibility we can see, and in global firmament, it is the brightest spot of investment and opportunity. The country has seen in the last decade exponential economic upsurge. Our rise from 11th position a decade ago, on the scale of economic size, we have traversed a long distance, facing headwinds, difficult terrain, overcoming hurdles created earlier, cleansing the system, making it transparent and accountable.
We are the 5th largest global economy at the moment, on way to becoming 4 trillion economy in US dollars very shortly, and with average growth over this period of about 8%. Bharat happens to be the fastest growing global economy in last decade, acclaimed, accoladed and applauded by global institutions, the IMF and the World Bank.
World Bank has appreciated our deep digitisation, technological penetration, and everyone sees it now as a ground reality. Next comes infrastructure. Phenomenal infrastructure growth has dotted our landscape. Be it on sea, deep sea, ground, sky or in space, all our accomplishments make us greatly proud, and I am happy to share with you, every year the country has added four new airports and one metro system, and on a daily basis, 14 kilometres of highways and 6 kilometres of railways are
being added.
If I reflect on scale of deep technological penetration, 85 million are benefiting with houses, 330 million with health coverage, and 29 million small businesses with loans annually. The government is hand-holding them by affirmative policies and innovative schemes. We now boast of beyond what we achieved in space. Lunar and Mars missions in medical science, vaccine production, and the nation is bound to be hub of semiconductors, engineering and manufacturing.
India's engagement with world in green energy, urbanisation, emerging disruptive technologies, we are in the front rank. It is for the first time that the country is in big league of nations on Artificial Intelligence, on Quantum computing, on Green Hydrogen mission, and all pervasive digitisation has generated transparency, Accountability, easy service affordability.
Corruption has been neutralised from power corridors on account of technological inroads. Technological inroads have been no less than invasion on corruption and malpractices, and that is reflected in the scenario that almost half of digital transactions in the world are
emanating from this country, 6.5 billion monthly.
Let me recall what P. Parameswaran ji said on this occasion, on such an occasion, we need to reflect, remember, I quote, “The youth of Bharat are not merely inheritors of our civilisation, but the architects who will shape our nation's future glory through their aspirations, innovations, and resilience.”
Our demographic dividend, the youth component of it, is envy of the world. India's greatest strength is its population. We are home to one-sixth of humanity, but look at our qualitative cutting edge demographic dividend.
Sixty-five percent of the population is in working age. Our nation is an average age of 28.4 years. We are uniquely positioned as the world's youngest major economy.
Compare this to Japan, 48.7 years. Compare it to Germany, 44.3 years, and China, 38.4 years. People-centric policies and transparent accountable governance has given buoyancy to ecosystem. Imagine the scale of it, a nation of 1.4 billion. Look at the transformative change that has
impacted the rural environment.
Every house has a toilet, electric connection, water connection is on way, a gas connection.And look at the connectivity, internet, and road, rail, and handholding policies in health and education centre. These define our growth trajectory. India is no longer a nation with a promise. India is no longer labelled as a nation of snake charmers. India is charming the entire world with the potential it has for everyone on the globe.
This economic renaissance, which was beyond imagination, beyond contemplation, beyond dreams, a few years ago, has generated
what is essence of our Sanatana inclusivity. Non-discriminatory, uniform, even-handed, equitable development, results, and fruits for one
and all. Effort has been made, irrespective of any qualification, race, religion, caste, colour, that the benefit must reach those who are in the last line, and this is being done with great success.
Bharat is the only democracy in the world that has structured democracy at the village level. Constitutionally sanctified democracy at the Village level, Municipal level, State level, and the Central level. I want, on this great occasion, to everyone reflect on what is democracy.
Democracy is defined by freedom of expression and dialogue. If we enjoy freedom of expression and do not lend our ears to the other point of view, do not enter into dialogue, do not appreciate the other point of view, expression becomes authoritarianism.
प्रजातन्त्र में किसी भी व्यक्ति या संस्था के लिए अहं और अहंकार का कोई स्थान नहीं है। प्रजातन्त्र का मूल तत्व है समानता, समान अधिकार, समान अवसर।
And I therefore appeal that those who do not believe in harmony,
social harmony, national harmony, must get into the thought process of Shri P. Parameswaran ji.
How can we countenance in this land that has 5,000 years of civilisational ethos? Someone says, मैं अकेला सही हूँ, मेरी बात का कोई विकल्प नहीं है, ऐसा नहीं है। These thoughts are antithetical to our civilisational ethos. They militate against the very concept of democracy, and therefore, we must focus, alongside expression, on dialogue, dialogue enables everyone to self-assess oneself, to self-audit oneself, to be open to the other idea.
And that was what P. Parameswaranji was doing all throughout. Ideologic discourse, ideologic debate, ideologic brainstorming should be dominating our discourse, not violence. What does our culture say, हमारी संस्कृति क्या कहती है? अभिव्यक्ति, वाद-विवाद और अनंतवाद, अनंतवाद का स्रोत हमारी सांस्कृतिक विरासत में है। अनंतवाद का ही नतीजा है कि भारत ज्ञान का भंडार था, जानकारी का भंडार था।
If India is today a cultural centre of the world, we owe to people like P. Parameswaranji for coming to this level. If in the past, about 1200 years ago, India was the world's repository of knowledge and wisdom, it was on account of our institutions.
आज के दिन, कुछ हालात भयावह हैं, चिंतन और मंथन के लिए विवश करते हैं।
We are faced with an alarmingly worrisome scenario on certain aspects. Politics has become polarised. We are faced with an alarmingly worrisome scenario on certain aspects. Vertically divisive, temperatures are ever high. The core national values and civilisational values are not the central theme. In this country where diversity is reflected in unity, this country that prides in Sanatana values of inclusivity, we cannot afford ourselves to be distanced from these core values and engage in polarised, divisive activities.
Time for us to fall in the groove of Sanatana Dharma as enlightened by Shri P. Parameswaranji, and let me reflect on that concern. As meaningful dialogue fades, so do the pillars of cooperation, collaboration and consensus.
I must share with you my anguish, my pain. The largest democracy’s parliament must be role model for people. It is a platform to transform aspirations of the people into reality. It has to be impregnable citadel of dialogue, debate, discussion and deliberation. And these facets were exemplified by the Constituent Assembly that worked for about three years in eighteen sessions. And what we see today? Dialogue, deliberation and others have yielded to disturbance and disruption.
Can there be sacrilege of more intense enormity when temples of democracy are ravaged by disruption and disturbance? Our democracy has to survive. And the first test is parliamentary functioning. We face situations where national interest is relegated. Anti-national narratives take wings.
We are living in very dangerous times. Political intolerance and reckless stance promoting partisan and personal interests at the cost of nationalism needs to be moderated. There is need for social counselling. Young minds and senior citizens must converge to generate an ecosystem. By becoming influencers of our mindset, we have a Constitution that remarkably depicts Gurukul.
That makes reference to Ramayana. What is the message? अधर्म पर धर्म की विजय, when in fundamental rights, Part- III of the Constitution, you have a picture of Ram, Sita and Lakshman coming to Ayodhya. अंधकार से प्रकाश, धर्म की जीत अधर्म की हार। मर्यादित आचरण का संदेश और यदि अगर कहें सबका साथ सबका विश्वास इसका अंश आपको रामायण में मिलेगा ।
भारत के संविधान में, if we go to the next part, Directive Principles of State Policy. महाभारत का वह scene है, कुरुक्षेत्र का वह दृश्य है। श्रीकृष्ण अर्जुन को उपदेश दे रहे हैं। What does it teach us? It says, लक्ष्य को ध्यान में रखो, छत को मत देखो, मछली को मत देखो, मछली की आँख को मत देखो क्योंकि आपका लक्ष्य नहीं है। आपको भेदन है। इसी तरीके से शासन का काम करते हुए, कर्तव्य निर्वहन करते हुए हमारी दृष्टि भाई-भतीजेवाद पर नहीं होनी चाहिए। The message is loud and clear. Patronism, nepotism, favouritism, are evils that cut into merit of the society. Fortunately, power corridors have been sanitised. It is obligation of every person, every Bharatiya, not only to believe in these values, but to disseminate them.
Let me now come to demography. Demography does matter. Demography should not be confused with majoritarianism. We cannot have a society divided in these two camps. But ladies and gentlemen, the nation is faced with grim challenges when it comes to demography.
The demography evolution must be organic. It must be natural. It must be soothing only then it reflects unity and diversity, but if demographic variations are brought about in the nature of virtual and earthquake, there is cause for concern.
If inorganic demographic variations take place with intent to increase demographic component with the objective to secure progress, then we have to be alarmed. This is being done. This is noticeably being done. We are at a stage crossroads, where we can neither overlook nor countenance this highly destabilising development.
We have to be extremely alert. All of you converge to preserve the pristine demographic sanctity of Bharat. The challenge is coming in varied ways. One is through allurements, temptations. Reaching out to the needy and vulnerable. Providing succour. And then, in a subtle way, suggesting change of religion which is labelled as conversions. The country allows everyone to have a religion of his or her choice. This is our fundamental right.
This is handed to us from our civilisational wealth, but if this is tampered with, it is tweaked. ऐसा बर्दाश्त नहीं हो सकता. लालच, लोभ आधार नहीं हो सकता। कोई पीड़ा में है, दिक्कत में है, जरूरतमंद है उसको hand-holding करते समय, धर्म परिवर्तन की तरफ मत खींचो. यह बर्दाश्त के लायक नहीं है, मैं कितनी ही कोशिश करूँ, I will not be able to express the gravity of the concern, enormity of the challenge that we are faced on account of these statized, orchestrated, financially fuelled misadventures to effect conversions.
The third motive, which is ill-motivation towards our nation. How can a nation suffer millions of illegal migrants? Look at the number. Look at the danger they bring to this country. Everyone in this country is fired with the dream of nationalism. These people come, they demand on our employment, on our health, on our education sectors, and then become a factor in electoral politics. It is very urgent. This has to be addressed. We are cliffhanging. We must generate awareness. The mindset of the people must be activated.
Every Bharatiya must be steered to face this challenge. And that flow is threatening our culture also. I would urge we must courageously thwart these demographic dislocations. I have indicated three. As of now in the country we have from electoral point of view areas where elections do not make much sense. We have fortresses in the country that have emerged in the last few years where the outcome of the election is always foreclosed by democratic demographic dislocations.
Addressing these challenges which are very daunting, policy interventions alone are not sufficient. We have to appreciate and recognise these challenges as existential to our nationalism and also to our democracy. True devotion to Bharat Mata means not merely celebrating its spiritual heritage but actively protecting its erosion caused by demographic transformation. I am happy to share with you that Viksit Bharat is not a dream now. It is our object. The nation is regaining past glory. We are on way to it. Our youth will play a critical role. We must gear up to do that. Everything that is happening in the country is making us proud globally.
I reflected on global institutions. Now look at what happened only a few days ago. More than twice the population of the US had footprint at Mahakumbh. The holy Mahakumbh. More than twice the population of the US. Imagine the size and scale of it. And look at the exemplary management, quick response, facilities everything for us to take pride. The world has not seen such organised handling of a situation at this mega scale. Nowhere on the planet this has been seen. Nowhere there has been congregation of humanity in that number on a daily basis. That defines Bharat. That surprises the world. Look at how the mobility was there.
How health was taken care of. How public order was maintained. How hygiene was controlled. I was there. My entire family was there. That should make us proud. This is a glorifying facet of Indian civilisation. We must ever remember. From all considerations all I can say is भारत जैसा कोई दूसरा देश नहीं है। हम अत्यंत भाग्यशाली हैं परमपिता परमेश्वर के कि हमारा जन्म यहाँ हुआ। अब हमें कर्तव्य निर्वहन करना चाहिए और कर्तव्य निर्वहन का मार्ग परमेश्वरन जी ने जीवन पर्यंत सिखाया है। आदर्श प्रचारक के रूप में, देश और दुनिया की सबसे बड़ी ideological संस्था से जुड़कर– राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ और एक रास्ता दिखाकर अहिंसा विकल्प नहीं है।
I am extremely grateful to the organisers for having made this great opportunity to me available. I feel blessed, I feel honoured, and I look forward to the centennial celebrations of his birthday be organised at the national level. I must recognise in the audience's presence of another great son of Bharat, Padma Bhushan Dr. O. Rajagopal.
My greetings to all of you. I am grateful for your patience.
Jai Hind.
