Yogi Adityanath was addressing the inaugural function of National Youth Festival in Lucknow (File)
Lamenting the growing trend of anti-India sloganeering in some universities, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Sunday said some people thriving on the resources of the country are trying to throw it in the cauldron of terrorism, Naxalism and extremism.
Addressing the inaugural function of the five-day National Youth Festival on Swami Vivekananda's 157 birth anniversary in Lucknow, the chief minister also exhorted youths to get out of Macaulay's mindset and appreciate that the world today expects India to mediate between America and Iran, unlike in the past when only the US or Russia was expected to broker peace.
Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863.
"The same people who thrive on the resources of the country are trying to throw India in the cauldron of terrorism, Naxalism and extremism. This is confirmed by their statements," the chief minister said.
"The slogans being raised in certain institutes of higher education in the country continuously trouble us. They warn us about where the centres of conspiracy against the country are located," the chief minister said.
Recalling Swami Vivekananda's observation that "when a person starts being ashamed of his ancestors, it indicates that his end has come", Yogi Adityanath said, "When we are unable to take pride in the glorious moments of our past and the deeds of our great men, we are making our future bleak."
"Therefore, it has been said that a person, cut off from his past, is a "Trishanku" (a person suspended midair upside down, midway his desired goal)," said the chief minister, adding, "A trishanku has no future, it remains disconnected."
Yogi Adityanath said, "The country got independence in 1947 and at that time there were many people who thought the country came into being in 1947 and so those having the mentality of Macaulay exaggerated that we are in the process of becoming a nation. Some others went further and said I am Hindu by accident."
"Those who did not have the knowledge of history they did not acknowledge India as a complete 'rashtra' at the time of independence and because of their ignorance such people are raising anti-India slogans in institutes of higher education," he said.
The chief minister's reference of Thomas Babington Macaulay, the first law member in the council of the first Governor General of India Lord William Bentinck, appointed as per the provisions of the Charter Act, 1933, was not lost on the audience.
A key jurist responsible for evolution of uniform laws in British India, Lord Macaulay, however, was a bitter critic of the contemporary Indian Education system.
In his famous "Memorandum on (Indian) Education", he had argued that "western learning was superior, and currently could only be taught (in India) through the medium of English. There was, therefore, a need to produce ''a class of persons, Indian in blood and colour, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect'', who could, in turn, develop the tools to transmit Western learning in the vernacular languages of India."
Referring to the globally growing respect for India, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said, "Earlier, if there was a dispute between two countries, intervention was expected from the US or Russia."
"Today the world is looking towards India and PM Modi for mediation between America and Iran and this is the new India", he said.
"The youngest country in the world is India and the youngest state in India is Uttar Pradesh. If this young power stands up, it can withstand any challenge. Today's youth can do something in every field. Positive energy always motivates a person to move forward," the chief minister observed.
Inaugurating the five-day event, Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju said, "The central government is giving top level facility to the young talent of country and the nation will be in very good position in the 2028 Olympics".
Mr Rijiju said the National Youth festival will increase the "Ek Bharat Shresht Bharat" bonding and it will prove as learning platform for everyone.