PM Modi addresses Shwetambar Terapanth event

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday that government, society and spiritual authority always played an equal role in the country which, he added, has never had the tendency that only government will do everything.

In a video message at the concluding ceremony of ”Ahimsa Yatra” of Shwetambar Terapanth, a Jain sect, Modi said the country is reflecting this spirit during the ongoing ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ while walking on the path of duty towards achieving its pledges with the motto of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Prayas’, according to an official statement.

Recalling the ancient tradition of saints emphasising constant movement, he especially noted that the Shwetambar Terapanth has made abdication of lethargy into a spiritual pledge and complimented sect chief Acharya Mahashraman for completing 18,000-km ‘padayatra’ in three countries.

The prime minister lauded him for expanding the tradition of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam’ and propagating the mantra of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’ as an spiritual pledge. He also recalled his long association with the Shwetambara Terapanth.

Modi underlined the importance of the ‘padayatra’ that was flagged off from the Red Fort in 2014 and noted the coincidence that he himself started his journey as prime minister in the same year and embarked on the journey of public service and public welfare.

Praising the theme of the padayatra — harmony, morality and de-addiction — he said real self-realisation is possible only in the absence of any kind of addiction.