"There is need for strong laws and steps to deal with the incidents of rapes and the perpetrators of rape," Bhagwat, whose comment that rapes took place in India but not in Bharat had created a controversy, said at a function here in Nadia district in connection with the 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
There is also a need to change the mindset of the society because the people who will make the laws (against rape) are also from the same society. "If there is no change in the mindset of the society, then nothing will change," he said.
Referring to the country's development, he said it should become a superpower to serve the poor and the underprivileged.
"We don't want to become a superpower like China or the USA ... But we have to be fearless," he added.
Former ISRO chairman G Madhavan Nair spoke on the contribution of Swami Vivekananda.
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