"India can't achieve aim of Swaraj unless culture, languages are preserved": Amit Shah

New Delhi [India], August 5 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said that India cannot achieve the aim of 'Swaraj' unless we preserve the ancient culture and languages as well as inform our future generations about the country's rich history.
The Home Minister also elaborated on the meaning of 'Swaraj' in the Indian context and said that it was to run India with its traditions and culture.
Shah said as he launched Doordarshan's mega historical Hindi serial - 'Swaraj - Bharat Ke Swatantrata Sangram Ki Samagra Gatha' in the national capital.
The 75-episode series will present a glorious history of India's freedom struggle and lesser-known tales about Indian history.
Speaking on this occasion, the Home Minister said the endeavour of this Swaraj series should be to make Indians feel proud of their culture, values, and ancient texts. He urged the youth to take pride in country's ancient culture and history.
"As far as the meaning of the word Swaraj is concerned, it means self-rule in context of the Western countries, but as far as India is concerned, Swaraj means making India independent and governing it with its own traditions and culture. Under this, own language also comes, own religion also comes, and own culture also comes. Unless we live with the sense of Swaraj, India cannot achieve Swaraj in its real form," he said.
"India cannot achieve the aim of 'Swaraj' unless we preserve the ancient culture and languages as well as inform our future generations about the country's rich history," he added.
Stating that the culture in India goes back to over 12,000 years, the Home Minister said that "no NGOs need to teach" culture to the country.
"We are self-ruling for 75 years, whoever came to power, took the country forward. But can the aim of Swaraj be achieved if we could not save our languages in the 100th year? If we do not carry forward our history to the next generation, can the aim of Swaraj be fulfilled? There has been a stream of culture for over 12,000 years. No NGO needs to teach us culture," Shah said.
"I want to tell the youth that the ones who ruled us destroyed our system. They could only rule when our people felt inferior because we were ahead of them in every field. They created a falsehood that we were illiterate. How can the country be illiterate which gave the world Gita, Vedas ?" he added.
The Home Minister, speaking about the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav', said that "nobody would be able to keep India from becoming great" as India takes this next leap.
"The 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' is very significant for the nation. And I believe that as India takes this next leap, nobody would be able to keep India from becoming great," Shah said.