Ayodhya: Prime Minister Narendra Modi hoisted The saffron flag atop the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple in Ayodhya on Tuesday and said that it symbolises India’s cultural revival.
“Today, the city of Ayodhya is bearing witness to yet another pinnacle of India’s cultural consciousness. Today, the entire India, the entire world, is imbued with Rama. In the heart of every devotee of Rama, there is unparalleled satisfaction, boundless gratitude, immense, otherworldly joy,” PM Modi said.
“The wounds of centuries are healing. The pain of centuries is finding respite today. The resolve of centuries is attaining fulfilment today. Today marks the culmination of that yajna, whose fire blazed for 500 years. That yajna never wavered from faith for a single moment, nor broke from trust for a single moment,” he added.
“This religious flag is not merely a flag. It is the banner of the renaissance of Indian civilisation. Its saffron colour, the fame of the Suryavansh lineage depicted on it, the inscribed word Om, and the embossed Kovidar tree symbolise the glory of Ram Rajya,” the Prime Minister said.
He said that the Dharmadhwaj will serve as an inspiration that while life may end, what has been said remains. By this he meant that whatever is said must be done.
“This Dharmadhwaj will convey the message — Karmapradhan vishwa rachi rakha, meaning primacy of action and duty in the world,” PM Modi said.
“I urge every citizen to visit the Sapt Mandapam when they come to the Ram Temple. These mandaps strengthen the values of faith, friendship, duty and social harmony. Our Ram unites through emotion, not division, what matters to him is devotion, not lineage,” he said.
“A few days ago, I said that in the next 10 years, our target is to free India from the mentality of slavery. Unfortunately, the impact of what Macaulay had envisioned became even wider. We attained independence, but we could not free ourselves from the sense of inferiority. We began to believe that anything of foreign origin is superior, and what is ours is inferior. It was said that our Constitution was inspired by foreign constitutions, but the truth is that India is the mother of democracy. Democracy is in our DNA,” the Prime Minister said.
He urged citizens to absorb the values embodied by Lord Ram as the country prepares for its next phase of growth.
“We must learn from Lord Ram. We must understand his personality. We must internalise his behaviour,” he said.
Calling for long-term national vision, PM Modi said India must look far beyond the present moment.
“In 2047, when the country celebrates 100 years of independence, we must build a Viksit Bharat… We must strengthen India’s foundation for the next thousand years,” he said.
“Those who think only of the present do injustice to future generations. This country existed when we were not there, and it will exist when we are gone,” he said, adding that India is a “vibrant society” that must “act with vision” and keep “the coming decades and centuries in mind,” the Prime Minister added.
