RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat bats for 'Matri Shakti', religion-based population balance

Bhagwat said that we should try to have friends in all castes and economic classes to bring more equality in the society

Calling for empowerment of ‘Matri Shakti’, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat on Wednesday said that participation of women in diverse activities would greatly help in the nation-building process.

Addressing the annual 'Vijaya Dashami' rally in Nagpur, he said that in the Sangh programmes, there is an old tradition of welcoming intellectual and accomplished women guests. The Shakha methodology of ‘Vyakti Nirman’ (human development) is being operated separately by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and Rashtriya Sevika Samiti.

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"All other activities are carried out jointly by men and women. 'Bharatiya' tradition has always thought with this vision of complementarity. However, this great tradition was forgotten and numerous limitations were placed on ‘Matri Shakti,’ our women’s power. Repeated aggressions on our country created legitimacy for these false practices and over time they became habitual," he said.

Bhagwat pointed out that at the very outset of our national regeneration, our great leaders rejected all manner of false practices that had become the lot of women.

“Both extremes – placing women’s power on a divine altar and freezing it there at one end and the other extreme of treating women as second-class citizens and restricting them to the kitchen – were avoided. Rather the focus was on the means and methods required for progress, empowerment of women in all domains of society, along with their participation and equity in the decision-making process," he said.

He said that after stumbling through long years of various experiments the current individualistic and feminist view also is turning towards this very direction. In 2017, women activists working in different organisations had undertaken a broad-based and wide-ranging survey on the status of Indian women. The findings of the survey were submitted to the government authorities as well. The survey conclusions underscored the need for progress, empowerment and equal participation.

"Dissemination and acceptance of these conclusive findings require work, starting first at the level of families and then continuing through all layers of organisational life; only then the society along with its Matri Shakti can deliver its role successfully as an organised force in national resurgence," he said.