Thaindian News

New Delhi, Jan 12 (IANS) Swami Vivekananda is the only icon of modern India avowed ardently by both the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the communists, Urban Development Minister S. Jaipal Reddy said Wednesday.Speaking at a function held to mark 148th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananada, Reddy described the great seer and scholar as a global humanist far beyond his time.

Vivekananda was a multi-dimensional personality, but was being perceived and presented as “a uni-dimensional personality”, the minister said while addressing the inaugural session of the National Congress on Building New India through Excellence in Education.

Referring to Vivekananda’s acclaimed address to the Parliament of World’s Religions in 1893 in Chicago, Reddy said that the seer spoke of India’s past glory, hoary history and also of a collective global future.

Reddy said that Vivekananada had “an inexhaustible fountain of progressive imagination that we tend to ignore.”

“He was perhaps only one icon of modern India avowed ardently by both the RSS and the communists,” Reddy said.

The minister recalled how late communist leader E.M.S. Namboodiripad regarded Vivekananada as an icon and thought that he condemned the institution of caste more severely than anybody else.

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K. Rahman Khan said Vivekananda’s message had universal appeal and far-reaching relevance.

The two-day conference has been organised by Ramakrishna-Vivekananda International Foundation.

Swami Vivekananda, a major force in spreading Hindu ideology at global level while also spreading inter-faith awareness, was born in Kolkata Jan 12, 1863. His speech at the Chicago Parliament of the World’s Religions that began with the address “Sisters and Brothers of America” inspired people across the world.

Vivekananda’s birth anniversary is also observed as National Youth Day.