Edited by Deepali Verma
The Ram Temple consecration in Ayodhya brought millions of people together and highlighted the collective strength of the country on January 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. In his first address of Mann Ki Baat broadcast of the year, Modi said that the governance of Lord Ram was a source of inspiration for Constitution makers.
“This is why on January 22 in Ayodhya, I mentioned ‘Dev to Desh’ and ‘Ram to Rashtra’. Everyone’s feeling and devotion is the same. Ram is in everyone’s words and heart,” he said.
Several individuals coming from various country parts devoted themselves to singing Ram bhajans during this period, offering their dedication to Lord Ram, the Prime Minister said. “On the evening of January 22, the entire nation lit the Ram Jyoti while as they celebrated a collective Diwali,” he said.
“The collective strength of the country was visible, which is the basis of our pledge of a developed Bharat,” he said, adding that it is collective power that will take the country to new heights of progress.
The ceremony was presided by Prime Minister and dedicated to the 51-inch black stone idol of the five-year-old god, or Ram Lalla, in company of a thousands-strong crowd comprising Bharat’s most prestigious personalities from every walk of life. He then delivered a rousing speech for 40 minutes talking about faith and governance, transforming the holy moment into a milestone for nation-building and laying a plank for the future course of Bharat.
“The crafting of the Constitution of India has been done with such profound deliberation that it is referred to as a living document,” Modi remarked in his monthly radio broadcast.
“The third chapter of the Constitution talks about the fundamental rights of the citizens of Bharat. An intriguing aspect to this chapter is the image placement that depicts Lord Rama, Mother Sita and Lakshmana at the beginning by the framers of our constitution,” he added.
Modi’s address also encouraged the young voters to register themselves so that they could exercise their franchise in the coming Lok Sabha elections and further appreciated the growing participation of people in voting, when a lot of countries in the world are seeing a downward trend. He marked how the “huge” figure of 960 million voters in the country was nearly three times more than the population of America and about one-and-a-half times that of Europe.
“As the voting percentage is decreasing in many countries, in Bharat it is increasing. I am also happy to see that many efforts are being made at the community level to increase awareness among voters,” he said.
In conversation about the Padma Awards, the Prime Minister said the process of conferring the honour had “completely” changed under his leadership.
“I am extremely happy that the conferment of Padma Awards has been completely overhauled in the last decade. Now it is the People’s Padma. Several changes have been noted in the system of conferring the Padma Awards. People now have the chance to nominate themselves now. This is the sole reason why the nominations received this time were 28 times more as compared to that of 2014,” he said.
The list of this year’s Padma Awards recipients was announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs on the eve of the 75th Republic Day celebrations.
Modi said many people honoured with this year’s awards were those who worked at grassroots and away from the limelight to make big changes. “Numerous people from abroad have been graced with the Padma award, as their work is rendering new heights to the culture of Bharat and heritage,” he said.
Praising the presence of women power in the Republic Day parade, Modi said out of the 20 contingents, 11 were that of all-women. “We witnessed that even in the tableaux that went by, all the artists were women. About one and a half thousand daughters took part in the cultural programs that took place,” he said.
