The Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu today called for reviving the glory of traditional Indian sports like hockey and urged state governments and corporate entities to join hands in providing needed encouragement.
Releasing the postage stamp in the memory of social worker and nationalist, Chaman Lal at Upa-Rashtrapati Nivas today, the Vice President said that the recent performance of Indian hockey team in Tokyo Olympics has rekindled the interest in the sports and time has come for promoting traditional Indian sports like hockey and kabaddi in a big way. He called for strengthening infrastructure including artificial turf and training and coaching at the grassroot level. Naidu also lauded the Center’s proactive encouragement to Indian sports.
Asking to shed the colonial mindset of aping others blindly, the Vice President said that we should justly feel proud of great tradition and culture. He also asserted that there is inherent talent among Indians in every field, ‘what is required is right encouragement and support for this talent’.
Paying rich tributes to Chaman Lal, the Vice President said that he dedicated his entire life in selflessly serving the country and the people. Calling Chaman Lal a great nationalist and a visionary thinker, he said that his life’s philosophy was characterised by service, values and creativity. “Despite receiving a gold medal in M.Sc at Punjab University (Lahore) in 1942, he chose the path of service even though he had a bright career ahead. He saw spirituality in service,” Naidu said.
Stressing the need to strike a balance between one’s personal rights and societal duties, he said that too much insistence on rights without taking care of one’s social responsibilities can lead to disbalance in society. The Vice President also said that enlightened and sensitive citizens who put the nation before self are the nation builders in true sense. “Not being selfish and doing the welfare of others – this is what every civilization, every religion teaches us”, he said.
The Vice President further said that in true spirit of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, Chamanlal successfully reconnected overseas Indians, who have been living abroad for centuries, with their motherland and infused the spirit of Indianness among them. He worked tirelessly for creating a global network of Indian Diaspora spread around the globe, Naidu said and added, “today all diaspora Indians are our cultural representatives and India gets recognition by their success.”
Recalling the important role played by Chaman Lal during the period of emergency, Naidu said that he helped the family members of jailed persons with great diligence despite great risk to him. Recalling his personal interactions with Chaman Lal, the Vice President said that despite his advanced age, he used to be full of new ideas, always ready to take up new responsibilities.
Lauding the eternal Indian Guru-Shishya tradition, Naidu underlined that Indian culture does not see knowledge and learning as intellectual property rather it believes that knowledge increases by sharing. We believe that one has to repay one’s debt to the Guru by sharing his or her knowledge with others, he said. Quoting Rigvedic shloka -“Aa no bhadra: kratavo yantu vishwatha”, the Vice President said that Indian culture believes in universality of knowledge. “Knowledge is not bound in any geographical boundary, it is the common heritage of all humanity”, he added.
Calling Chaman Lal the inspiration behind the Center for World Studies, the Vice President said that the Center is working to highlight India’s achievents on global stage. He congratulated the Center for World Studies for organising the birth centenary of Chaman Lal all across the world. He also welcomed the decision of the Ministry of Communications, Government of India to release a postage stamp in honour of an inspiring personality like Chaman Lal.
Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Railways, Communications and Electronics & IT, Devusinh Chauhan, Minister of State for Communications, Rajeev Chandrashekar, Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Member of Parliament, Dr Subrahmanian Swamy, Member of Parliament, Dr Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, Member of Parliament, Vineet Pandey, Secretary (Posts) and others attended the event.
