Time to promote Indian culture: Venkaiah

• Hinduism is a way of life
• India was a powerful nation, but lagged behind in the absence of leadership with vision
• He stresses need to impart Indian culture and tradition to children

Vijayawada: Union Minister for Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs M Venkaiah Naidu here on Sunday stressed the need to promote Indian culture and human values.

Delivering the RSS leader Bhogadi Durga Prasad Memorial Lecture, Venkaiah Naidu said India was a powerful nation several centuries ago, but lagged behind at later stage because of absence of leadership with vision. The need of the hour was to deploy human resources for the good of the country.

He further said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had already identified the need to make India a strong nation and introduced Skill Development Corporation. The corporation would identify the areas where people were to be supported and promoted, he said and added that the nation should be restored to its past glory.

He paid rich tributes to the late RSS leader and said Durga Prasad was a visionary who taught human values and social responsibilities. He said the country needed such people to make society vibrant and responsible to make the nation strong.

The Union Minister said the country today required an organisation like RSS to create a sense of belongingness among the people and make them partners in building strong nation. The Union government was committed to provide basic amenities to the people and improve infrastructure, he added.

He took a dig at the television and film industry in the country for not promoting Indian culture. He wanted every citizen to feel proud and honoured for being an India. He also appealed to the non-resident Indians to come back and serve their motherland. “I encourage people to go abroad and tell them that they should learn and earn there. They should also come back and develop their motherland,” he said.

He said the socialism of Russia and Communism of China were on the wane and asserted that Hinduism of India was growing. He further said that Hinduism was not a religion but a way of life in this country. He found fault with the socialists and Communists for blaming BJP and the RSS. “Religion is faith that prescribes certain procedures to worship god, but Hinduism is the way of life that teaches human values and social responsibilities,” Venkaiah Naidu said.

The Assembly Deputy Speaker Mandali Buddha Prasad, BJP State president and Visakhapatnam MP K Haribabu, Ministers Kamineni Srinivasa Rao and P Manikyala Rao, RSS leaders Gottipati Muralimohan, Pulusu Gopi Reddy and Divvela Pitchaiah, Bhogadi Durga Prasada Smaraka Samithi leaders Vasireddy Vinod Kumar and Vamaraju Satyamurthy and others spoke.