"Yes I have spoken on Gandhi ji’s Vaishnav Jan bhajan at many places. In fact, I used to deliver hour-long speeches describing why Gandhi ji loved this bhajan. If we think carefully and dwell on each word of this song, composed 500 years ago, we will find that everything said in it is still relevant, especially for our public life. He speaks against corruption and importance of personal integrity. In short, it is a manifesto for public life and morality. So, I worked around the words and would say: ... "A people’s representative is one who feels the pain of others; one who removes the sorrows of others and yet does not let a trace of pride or arrogance come into his heart." This used to be part of my worker development programmes. I used to analyse each line of this bhajan and explain why Gandhi ji promoted these values in public life; it contains all the wisdom you need for public life. It is a great misfortune for our country that this bhajan is played only on October 2 at Rajghat. It should have become an instrument of inculcating moral values. Gandhi ji liked this bhajan because Gandhi’s DNA and the elements of this geet match each other. I hold it up as a model of conduct for our party and RSS workers. In the RSS, there is an old tradition of remembering this bhajan every morning. Their pratah smaran (morning remembrance) starts with Gandhi ji’s name."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Narendra Modi quoted from Kishwar, Madhu (2014). Modi, Muslims and media: Voices from Narendra Modi's Gujarat. p.379-380
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Narendra_Modi
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Narendra Modi
Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September,1950 in Vadnagar) is the 15th Prime Minister of the Republic of India. Modi is leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was the from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Parliament (MP) from Varanasi.
210 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Narendra Modi →
Related Quotes
"Take the cases of Kerala or Kashmir, Bengal or Tripura, it will not come in the media. Some people have selective sen…"
"You said I am not a challenger this time. That is not true. I am a challenger who is fighting against those things th…"
"Today, India has only two castes – those who are poor and those who want to eradicate poverty."
"In some states, hundreds of our workers have been killed because of their political views. Political untouchability i…"
"My upbringing does not allow me to take a life... When we go against nature then everything becomes dangerous; human …"
"Patience is the identity of Indians but now we are impatient for India's progress... We are challenging ourselves, we…"
"Congress and corruption have an unbreakable bond. In Congress time: Corruption — accelerator. Development — ventilator."
"I don't want any credit. I don’t need any credit. But the Army is ours. It is our pride. Why should not we take pride…"
"[In a veiled attack on Congress and other rivals without taking their names, the Prime Minister said that for 30 year…"
"2014 was a mandate for hope and aspiration, 2019 is about confidence and acceleration. 2014 was about some immediate …"