Lucknow: Breaking from tradition, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday attended the historic Ramlila celebrations here where he launched a veiled attack on Pakistan, saying those who help and provide shelter to terrorists cannot be spared, but made no reference to the surgical strikes.
Making terrorism the centrepoint of his over 20-minute speech, he said terror was the worst enemy of humanity and called upon the world community to speak in one voice against the menace to put an end to it. "Terrorism does not have any boundaries. It is bound to destroy all...a need has arisen to root out those who spread terrorism. Those who help terrorists and provide shelter to them can no longer be spared," he said in an obvious reference to Pakistan without taking its name.
"The forces of humanism should unite globally to end the menace," he said. Modi became the first Prime Minister to attend a Ramlila event outside Delhi and his participation at the Aishbagh celebrations assumes significance in the context of assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh early next year. The theme of this year's Dussehra here was 'destruction of terrorism'.
In significant gestures, Modi was presented a Sudarshan Chakra, bow and arrow and a mace at the event, symbolising valour. At the Delhi event at Ramlila Maidan, as usual, President Pranab Mukherjee, Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi were present.
Mythological bird Jatayu was first to fight terror, says Modi
The Prime Minister said Lord Ram represented humanity and its rich values and traditions. He said the first person to fight terror was neither a soldier nor a politician, but the mythological bird Jatayu who fought against Ravana to protect a helpless Sita, whom he was trying to kidnap.
Noting that war at times becomes inevitable due to prevailing circumstances, he said India is a country which follows the principles of peace as taught by Lord Buddha. “We balance between the Mohan of the Sudarshan Chakra, and the Mohan of the Charkha (Mahatma Gandhi)...we are the people who have seen yudhh (war) and Buddha. We can go from yudh to Buddha. Buddha’s path (of peace) should be our final path,” he said. “No one should have this misunderstanding that they are safe from terrorism as terrorism has no boundary, no morality, it can go anywhere,” Modi said
Terming casteism, communalism and nepotism as the forms of social evils present inside people, he said and there is a need to get rid of these Ravanas. Modi said on side the country was celebrating Vijaya Dashami and on the other the world was observing the day of the girl child and called upon people to end the menace of female infanticide and foeticide.
“We have pledged to burn Ravana’s effigy every year for abducting Sita. But we continue to discriminate between the male and female child. It should end. Who will end the Ravana inside us that kills many Sitas inside a mother’s womb? We should stop killing Sitas in this 21st century,” he said. He said women athletes brought laurels to the country in the recently-held Rio Olympics and they are a fine example of what girls can achieve.
Modi also used his speech to drive home the importance of sanitation and called for a fight against the social evil of manual scavenging which continues to exist despite efforts. Using the occasion, Modi said just as we burn Ravan every year, people should draw lessons from the tradition by taking a pledge to end all evils from our lives.
Highlighting the significance of Uttar Pradesh, which goes to polls early next year, Modi said this land has given us Ram and Krishna.
Modi began and concluded his speech with chants of “Jai Shri Ram; Jai, Jai Shri Ram”, the slogan often heard at the height of Ram temple movement. BJP has in recent elections desisted from making the Ram temple issue an electoral plank.
