Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (File)Home Minister Amit Shah will be the chief guest at a three-day international seminar titled ‘Revisiting the Ideas of India from ‘Swaraj’ to ‘New India’ organized by Delhi University’s Political Science department on May 19-21. This will be Shah’s first-ever event in DU.
Sources confirmed to The Indian Express that Shah, along with Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, will be present for the inaugural session on May 19. The valedictory session on May 21 will most likely see the presence of Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan, said sources. The seminar will be held at the university’s Convention Centre.
The concept note for the event says: “Beyond its land, people or state, India i.e. Bharat is a set of timeless and perpetual ideas. These ideas stand for its knowledge and spiritual traditions and long history of accommodation, peaceful coexistence and sustainable development. These ideas of India were, and are, society-centric and not state-centric in nature. Society-centric systems have existed on this land since time immemorial and the India of today has emerged from this remarkable continuity in ideas. The ideas and thoughts that have developed in India in recent decades carry such an echo of thousands of years. These ideas are now influencing India’s present in a big way.”
The seminar will make an effort “to understand the journey of India through ideas that blossomed in the modern times spanning the last 150 years”.
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“Undoubtedly, during this period, Mahatma Gandhi awakened not just the Indian consciousness but that of the whole world by enthusing his set of ideas in the first half of 20th century. If Swami Vivekanand unveiled India and its ideas at the world stage, Mahatma Gandhi established India at the global level. The proposed seminar will provide a platform to discuss ideas such as Swadeshi, Vande Mataram, Swaraj, Nationalism, and Socialism among others, that took shape before Gandhi but further bloomed under the leadership of Mahatma and others. This seminar will, therefore, discuss the ideas developed both before and after the Independence of India along with those who propounded such ideas,” the concept note reads.
“As a perennial river of ideas, India continues to churn out concepts that respond to emerging challenges. In the contemporary context, the call for ‘New India’ or slogans like ‘Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas’ given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi can breathe life into the dream of a ‘Samriddha (Prosperous)’, ‘Saksham (Capable)’, and ‘Shrestha (Great)’ Bharat. Keeping this in mind and taking a forward stance, the proposed international seminar will also discuss ideas that can guide and guard the future of India,” it further reads.
The sub-themes for the seminar include Swaraj, Vande Mataram, Hindutva, Nationalism, Socialism, etc.
Vice-Chancellor Yogesh Singh is the patron of the event that has a 10-member Organising Committee and a seven-member Advisory Committee. The Organising Committee includes Director South Campus Prakash Singh and Political Science Head of Department Sangit Kumar Ragi, along with the principals of Sri Venkateswara College and Maharaja Agrasen College, among other members.
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