Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said an education system based on Indian values is the need of the hour. He was virtually addressing an event organized to mark the 200th birth anniversary of Arya Samaj founder Swami Dayanand Saraswati at his birthplace Tankara in Gujarat’s Morbi district.
He further said, “Swami Dayanand Saraswati at that time showed us how our orthodoxy and social evils had harmed us. He had advocated for the equal rights for women in the society.”
“An education system based on Indian values is the need of the hour. Arya Samaj schools have been a center for this. The country is now expanding it through the National Education Policy. It is our responsibility to connect the society with these efforts,” the prime minister added.
PM Modi also said he was honored to be born in Gujarat, where Swami Dayanand Saraswati was born.
Meanwhile, PM Modi also paid tributes to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya, a key party ideologue, on his death anniversary, saying he showed the path to take the country forward by keeping the Indian culture and heritage at its center.
Upadhyaya, an RSS functionary, was among the founding members of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the BJP forerunner.
His ideas of “antyodaya” (uplift of the most impoverished) and “integral humanism” have often been cited by Modi as an inspiration for his governance model. Upadhyaya died in 1968.
Other BJP leaders also paid rich tributes to him, with party president JP Nadda asserting that his values will always be a guiding light for the party.
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