‘India introduced non-violence to the world but…’: At Jain seer’s centenary celebrations, PM Modi takes jibe at Pakistan

“Jo humein chhedega (Those who tease us),” he said, leaving the sentence incomplete amid applause from the crowd. He then continued, “Even if you did not say it in words, you were perhaps conveying your blessings for Operation Sindoor.” Operation Sindoor was India’s military response to the Pahalgam terror attack that claimed 26 civilian lives, believed to have been carried out by Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives.

PM Modi asserted that India is a country where service and humanity are central to its ethos. “When for ages, efforts were being made to quell violence with violence, then India introduced to the world the power of ahimsa (non-violence),” he said.

“India is the oldest living civilisation in the world. We are immortal for thousands of years, because our thoughts are immortal, our thinking is immortal, our philosophy is immortal,” he said at the event organised by the Ministry of Culture to mark the year-long centenary celebrations of Jain seer Acharya Vidyanand Ji Maharaj.

The source of this philosophy is “our saints, seers, mahants and acharyas”, PM Modi said about the spiritual leader who was instrumental in the restoration and revival of ancient Jain temples across India and worked for education, especially in Prakrit, Jain philosophy, and classical languages.

PM Modi asserted that his ideas have inspired the government’s welfare schemes. “Whether it is PM Awas Yojana, Jal Jivan Mission, Ayushman Bharat Yojana, and other such welfare schemes, they signify the sense of service towards the last person in the social hierarchy,” he said.

He also underlined that through his literature and music, he had endeavoured to revive the ancient Prakrit language. “Because of those who neglected their own culture, this language was going out of vogue,” PM Modi said in a reference to the previous governments. “We took efforts…and last year in October, our government accorded it (Prakrit) the status of a classical language,” he added.

“In our mission to digitise ancient manuscripts, a large section of it includes religious texts related to Jainism and manuscripts associated with acharyas. We want to go ahead on this subject,” he said, adding that mother tongues are being promoted in higher education as well. He also emphasised that his government has vowed to rid the country of the “slavery mindset”.