Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that his government is committed to restoring India's past glory by erasing ''symbols of slavery'' and is promoting what he termed as ''development with heritage''.
Speaking at a function on the occasion of the completion of 100 years of Gita Press at Gorakhpur, Modi also referred to the under-construction Ram Temple in Ayodhya and Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi and other religious places.
The prime minister heaped praises on Gita Press, which was conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2021 and said that the press has a ''national character'' and played a crucial role in uniting the country.
Also Read | Bhupesh Baghel hits back at PM Modi for levelling corruption charges; accuses him of speaking lies
''We changed the Indian Navy flag which carried the symbol of slavery and renamed Rajpath as Kartavya Path. We will also ensure that the idols stolen during our slavery are returned to India,'' he said.
''Ram Mandir ka sapna jadi hi poora hone ja raha hai'' (the dream of a Ram Temple is soon going to come true), Modi said as he cited from Gita, the Hindu epic which contained the sermons of Lord Krishna to Arjuna, one of the Pandavas during the Mahabharata war, and said that the ''Gods reincarnate in several forms to set things right whenever there is any threat to the religion''.
Lauding the role of the Gita Press whose main objectives were to ''promote and spread the principles of Sanatan Dharma, the Hindu religion among the general public by publishing Gita, Ramayana, Upanishads, Puranas, discourses of eminent saints and other character-building books and magazines and marketing them at highly subsidised prices'' in nation building and promotion of ancient Indian values, the prime minister said that the press took dharma to the households in difficult times.
''Our libraries had been burnt by foreign invaders. Our Gurukulas became almost extinct during the British regime. Gita Press ensured that Ramayana and Gita reached our homes,'' he said.
He also said that Mahatma Gandhi was closely associated with Gita Press and also used to write for its magazine Kalyan. ''Gandhi did not want any advertisement in Kalyan and Gita Press had accepted his wish,'' Modi added.
Gita Press had accepted the Gandhi Peace Prize but declined the cash award of Rs 1 crore which was given with the prize saying that it did not accept 'donations'. Established in 1923, Gita Press, which was celebrating its centenary, publish religious books pertaining to the Sanatan Dharma and Indian ancient culture. Its website claims that it has published 41.7 crore books in 15 languages. It has so far published 16.21 crore Bhagavad Gitas and 2.68 crore Puranas and Upanishads and 11.09 crore books for children.
The prime minister also flagged off the Vande Bharat train between Gorakhpur and Lucknow.