From the childhood home in Raigad of Acharya Vinoba Bhave —widely considered as the spiritual heir of Mahatma Gandhi, Maharashtra Congress chief Harshavardhan Sapkal on Sunday gave a call to unite all Gandhian, socialist and sarvodaya workers against the ‘fascist ruling powers’ and take forward their own cultural politics.
“Cultural politics is the core of the fight we all are in today. I do believe that our battle is actually cultural. Everywhere I go these days, I keep underlining that BJP and RSS are encroaching upon the culture of India. Be it culture of religious practices, be it culture of food or prayers. RSS wants to change our culture. Our job is to make people aware about it,” said Sapkal.
He was speaking at the gathering of Gandhian workers at Gagoda in Raigad district. Gagoda is the birthplace of Bharat Ratna Vinoba Bhave, where a new convention centre ‘Jai Jagat bhavan’ has been built.
From his involvement in the freedom struggle to his broad spiritual outlook which formed the core of his Sarvodaya movement, Aacharya Vinoba Bhave was widely regarded as the spiritual heir to Mahatma Gandhi. His Bhoodan movement, where donated land from wealthy landowners was given to peasants for cultivation, had drawn inspiration from the Sarvodaya movement and the concept of Gram Swarajya.
“There were differences between Congress and socialist – Gandhian forces in the past, especially after the emergency. We can discuss the emergency all we want. But let’s decide today’s priority. Today we need to come together, keeping the differences aside. We need to save the India of Gandhiji and Vinoba against the fascist powers ruling over us,” he said, giving a clarion call.
Recalling the movements of the past which questioned the government on issues ranging from unemployment and corruption, Sapkal pointed out how those movements are receding now.
“Where are the movements now? Where is Gram Swachchta Abhiyan? Where is Protest for ration? Where are agitations against inflation? There are systematic efforts to fool people, to make them brain-dead. They are being converted into voters from citizens. Congress will have to fight against it, and all of us need to come together,” he said.
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