Bharat's civilisational values hold key to global crises: RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat

NEW DELHI: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohanrao Bhagwat on Tuesday said the world’s mounting crises, from inequality and environmental degradation to unending conflicts, stem from a fragmented vision of progress and argued that India’s civilisational ethos, or Bharatiyata , offers a holistic alternative.

Delivering his keynote address at the 10th Anuvrat Nyas Nidhi Vyakhyan, organised by IGNOU and Akhil Bharatiya Anuvrat Nyas, Bhagwat said modern history, largely shaped by Western narratives, has ignored Bharat’s contributions while promoting a worldview rooted in consumption and conquest. “Today’s textbooks mention China and Japan but erase Bharat. Even here, history taught to children shows India only in the Mughal period,” he said, welcoming efforts to revise curricula and restore India’s cultural memory.

He pointed to the paradox of scientific and technological advances failing to eliminate human suffering. “Science has expanded human knowledge from chromosomes and genes to the Moon and Mars, but sorrow persists. The gap between the rich and poor keeps widening. Even those with wealth and comforts speak of inner unhappiness,” Bhagwat said.

Experiments with monarchy, religion-based governance, capitalism and communism, he noted, have faltered because they emerged from a “half-baked vision” that sees the world as separate entities and nature as something to exploit.

In contrast, Bharatiyata upholds interconnectedness, self-restraint and harmony. “Indian tradition teaches that whatever we do has consequences for the whole creation. Without dharma guiding wealth and desire, there can be no lasting peace,” Bhagwat said.

He invoked the wisdom of indigenous communities ( Adivasis ) who lived in sync with nature and criticised the modern tendency to blindly follow health and consumption trends without inner understanding. “Today, we act on media advice—Ramdev says drink bottle gourd juice and suddenly lauki prices skyrocket. We have outsourced our thinking,” he remarked.

Urging change at the individual and family level, Bhagwat said Bharat’s way has never been about imposing its model on others. “We influence by living our values and setting an example for the world. Small, conscious steps in daily life can ripple outwards to transform society,” he said.

As the world grapples with climate breakdown, resource conflicts and cultural alienation, Bhagwat insisted India’s civilisational vision offers a sustainable path forward . “Bharat must awaken itself first. When it does, the world will not need speeches to be convinced—it will see a living example of solutions it desperately seeks,” he said.