Modi Urges to Celebrate 150 Years of Vande Mataram
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ reflects the vibrant and magnificent image of India and appealed to citizens to make the 150th anniversary of the song unforgettable by carrying the values of the song to future generations. In his monthly speech on ‘Mann Ki Baat Radio’, he said that many programs on ‘Vande Mataram’ will be organized across the country to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the national song penned by Bankim Chandra. Chattopadhyay and was first sung by Rabindranath Tagore in 1896.
In his 30-minute speech, the Prime Minister touched upon many unique initiatives taken by citizens in different parts of the country, including efforts to revive mangroves in Gujarat, setting up Garbage Cafes in Chhattisgarh and initiatives to revive lakes in Bengaluru.
The Prime Minister also praised the efforts of the paramilitary forces (BSF and CRPF) to include Indian dog breeds in their units and recalled that a Mudhol Hound had won laurels in a competition beating foreign breed dogs.
“Our indigenous dogs have also shown incredible bravery. Last year, while patrolling in a Maoist-affected area of Chhattisgarh, the CRPF’s indigenous dog detected 8 kg of explosives,” Modi said.
He said BSF and CRPF have included Indian breeds like Rampur Hounds, Mudhol Hounds, Mongrels, Kombai and Pandikona in their dog teams and some of them will participate in the parade held at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat on October 31 to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Modi also praised efforts to grow coffee in Odisha’s Koraput, which has benefited people in the region.
“There are people in Koraput who grow coffee out of sheer passion. There are also many women whose lives have been pleasantly changed by coffee,” the Prime Minister said.
He said Indian coffee has become very popular all over the world, such as Chikmagalur, Coorg and Hassan in Karnataka; Pulney, Shevaroy, Nilgiri and Annamalai districts in Tamil Nadu; Biligiri district on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border; or the Wayanad, Travancore and Malabar regions in Kerala – the diversity of Indian coffee is truly remarkable.
The Prime Minister said that the world of culture and social media has given new life to Sanskrit and many young people are talking about the language through reels.
“Many of them even teach Sanskrit through social media channels. One such young content creator is Bhai Yash Salunke. What is special about Yash is that he is both a content creator and a cricketer. His video explaining how to play cricket while speaking Sanskrit has become very popular,” said Modi.
