English rendering of the text of Prime Minister's address at Dussehra Celebrations at Madhav Das Park, Red Fort, New Delhi

English rendering of the text of Prime Minister's address at Dussehra Celebrations at Madhav Das Park, Red Fort, New Delhi

Greetings to you all on the auspicious day of Vijayadashami.

Festivals in a way are the reflection of our social values and a learning for the society.

Each festival carries forward the tradition of showcasing our collective strength, to raise the sensitivity towards our social responsibilities and to keep on working tirelessly towards doing away with the social evils.

Our festivals are linked with the agriculture and harvesting, rivers and mountains, our history and our rich cultural traditions.

It has been thousands of years. But still the epics of Lord Rama, Lord Krishna have been a source of inspiration in our social milieu. They have been a source of awakening for us. After the auspicious period of Navaratri, today on Vijayadashami, we have the tradition of burning the effigy of Ravana. This is also a part of our great tradition. However, as a responsible citizen, it is our bounden duty to ward off the evil forces and the society has to keep the momentum on to raise the awareness in this regard.

Let me tell you, the festivals are not only about entertainment, there has to be purpose behind. We must take a resolve to do something positive for our country.  Can one imagine that Lord Rama leaves Ayodhya putting on the clothes stitched there and with his determination and resolve creates a huge collective strength and it paves the way for the involvement of every cross section of the society enroute to his victory in Sri Lanka. Men, monkeys, nature all joined him in his drive. It must be his magical power of putting hands together which saw Lord Ramchandra harnessing the collective strength. Even after his victory, he was humble and dedicated himself for the welfare of the people.

On this Vijayadashami, let us take a pledge that we would contribute something positively for our nation in the run up to 2022, when we celebrate 75th year of our Independence. Our Sankalp should be for the Siddhi as a citizen of a proud nation so that we make our own humble and positive contribution towards the nation by 2022. Let us resolve to create the nation of the dreams of our freedom fighters. And hence, we should undertake a resolve to contribute something positive for our nation like Lord Rama.

Many many greetings to you.

Once again, heartfelt greetings on Vijayadashami.