Women not safe, matter of shame: Bhagwat

RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said on Tuesday that a spate of incidents happening today indicate that women are not safe both in family and society and it was 'a matter of shame for all of us.'

In his Vijaydashmi address, Bhagwat said sanctity and decency of Indian culture has to be instilled in the men's approach towards women.

He said that apart from deficiencies in the education system, degradation of culture and unethical and immoral behaviour in the society were reasons behind the two major issues in social life.

"In a country where women were revered as mothers, where big wars were waged to protect the self-respect of women that became subject of the great epics Ramayan and Mahabharat, where martyrdoms like 'jouhar' took place to safeguard the chastity, there the spate of incidents which are happening today indicates that our mothers and sisters are not safe and secure both in family and society," he said.

"This is a matter of shame for all us. We have to make our mothers enlightened, self-reliant, and capable of self-protection. The sanctity and decency of our culture is to be instilled in the men's approach towards women. We all know, right from childhood this training starts in the family atmosphere. Sheer absence of this is seen in today's nuclear families," he said.

He also talked about the problem of drug addiction.

"Another frightening symptom of this is the growing level of drug addiction in the new generation. The prevention of the devastating consequences of this social evil will be a very difficult task unless our families cultivate a strong mentality to abstain from the temptation of drugs, incline towards moral life and keep away from getting allured," he said and added that all guardians including the Sangh Swayamsevaks should remain alert to the issue.

Bhagwat said there was a time when even the youth of a culturally-rich nation like China were made drug addicts by foreign powers, rendering them soulless.