New Delhi: The biggest confession on Delhi’s poor air from within the government came Tuesday evening. Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari admitted of a recurring throat infection he has been experiencing. The national capital and the adjoining areas have been experiencing extremely polluted air with the AQI consistently hovering near the 400-mark.
“Delhi is full of pollution. If I live here for two days, I get a throat infection because of this pollution. I’m the transport minister and 40 per cent of pollution happens because of transport itself,” said Gadkari at the launch of former chief information commissioner (CIC) Uday Mahurkar’s latest book titled My Idea of Nation First: Redefining Unalloyed Nationalism.
Gadkari was joined by Rajya Sabha MP Sudhanshu Trivedi, Lieutenant General VG Khandare and author Uday Mahurkar at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts.
According to the Union minister, India spent Rs 22 lakh crore on the import of fossil fuels. He stressed the use of alternate fuel. “Can’t we build India on alternative fuels? The world has changed. We have to reduce the country’s imports and increase exports,” he said.
Mahurkar’s 145-page-long book provides a nationalist view on many historical episodes from pre-Independence to post-Independence. “It is a humble attempt to remove distortions in history with a truly nationalist and dispassionate approach,” he wrote in the book.
In a one hour-long event, Mahurkar questioned what he described as Muslim appeasement, alleging it was driven by pressure from Left-liberals and pan-Islamists.
“Mahurkar’s book is not merely a commentary on the past. It is a call to awaken, to steer the present and to shape the future in the right direction,” wrote Yogi Adityanath for the blurb of the book.
Gadkari said Congress used secularism for appeasement politics. “The meaning of secularism is not to be devoid of religion. It is to be in harmony with all religions,” he said.
He also said that Hindutva is the nationality and the main basis of this is the Indian culture which is linked to history and heritage. “A culture that speaks for the welfare of the world,” he said.
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How India was betrayed
For Mahurkar, India was betrayed after Independence. He said pro-Muslim policies were imposed on the country by taking advantage of Gandhi’s unfortunate death.
In the book, Mahurkar has compiled articles he wrote over the last 10 years. The author discusses what he sees as mistakes of VD Savarkar and MK Gandhi, and argues that the RSS and Ambedkar shared ideology.
Mahurkar said it’s a common notion that our nationalist heroes and politicians who inspire us can never be wrong. “What Veer Savarkar said about cows was his mistake,” he said, adding that while Gandhi made mistakes, he also did a lot of great things for India, such as social reforms, and the Swachh Bharat campaign.
“But no honest man can deny that Gandhiji’s two thoughts played a major role in the Partition of India. The first one was Hindu-Muslim unity and the second was complete non-violence,” said Mahurkar.
Mahurkar said in India there is a lack of sense of history. He claimed that Ambedkar’s thoughts were very close to those of the RSS. Both Ambedkar and RSS opposed Article 370 and Panchayat elections.
Mahurkar said if Gandhi is the father of the nation, then Savarkar is the father of our national security. And then he had some nice things to say about Akbar.
“You can’t compare Aurangzeb and Akbar. Akbar withdraws Jizya tax, stops the demolition of temples and stops the oppression of Hindu women. Nowadays, there is a fashion to condemn Akbar in any way. I swam against the torrent in this case.”
(Edited by Ratan Priya)
NATION FIRST ✅
PEOPLE LAST ✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅