A wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has started a campaign to reach out to pregnant women to train them to instill "sanskar" and "cultural pride" in their children from the womb stage itself.
In an event organised at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in New Delhi on Sunday, Samvardhinee Nyas, a sub-wing under the Rashtra Sevika Samiti (the women's wing of the RSS), sought to encourage women to play an active role in the "restoration of the country's glory".
Speaking at the event, Madhuri Marathe, the national organising secretary of Samvardhinee Nyas, said, "Garbha se hi sanskar laana hai (women need to instil culture in their children at the womb stage itself). The child needs to be taught that the country is the priority," The Times of India quoted her as saying. She was addressing an audience comprised of over 70 doctors from 12 states, mostly gynaecologists and ayurveda doctors, including some from the prestigious AIIMS institutions.
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Citing the example of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Marathe claimed that his valour was a result of his mother Jija Bai's constant prayers. She encouraged women to follow Jia Bai's example so that the country would have future leaders possessing "the qualities of Hindu rulers".
Also speaking at the event, Dr Rama Jayasunder, head of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) department at AIIMS, claimed that "Garbha Sanskar" could help overcome autism and other disabilities at birth. Noting a supposed rise in these disabilities, she said they were becoming more common among families of "comfortable economic strata". She continued, "It makes us wonder what is going wrong in pregnancy. 'Garbha sanskar' starts even before pregnancy. The minute a couple thinks of a child, the role of ayurveda comes into play".
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Samvardhinee Nyas also wants to encourage women to engage in "womb cleansing", a practice consisting of 'Gita Paath' and reading Sanskrit. The organisers claimed that a child's DNA could be "changed in the womb" through "womb cleansing" and "a baby in the womb can learn up to 500 words."
They are planning to reach out to at least 1,000 women under this campaign.
Dr Rajani Mittal, co-convener of the body, claimed, "Mothers will be happy if they give birth to children like Lord Ram who are duty-bound towards their parents and save the country too."
Claiming that homosexuality was a result of gender expectations at birth, Dr Shweta Dangre said, "If the mother already has a son as her firstborn and expects her second-born to be a girl, but gives birth to a boy, then the child could grow up to be homosexual."
(With PTI inputs)