RSS leader Soni blames Western values, frameworks for world's current crises

Mumbai, Apr 25 (PTI) Modern-day problems stem from functioning based on values and frameworks of the western world which promote excessive consumption and resource exploitation, asserted a senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader on Friday.

RSS national executive committee member Suresh Soni noted that despite decades-long discourse centred around development, what is visible today is economic disparity and global terrorism instead of peace.

He hailed India's family-based social system which is rooted in integrated living.

Speaking at a public event in Mumbai, Soni said, "Today's issues around the globe are because we are functioning according to the patterns and values of the Western world. The Newtonian and Cartesian world view promoted fragmentation, excessive consumption, and resource exploitation. This model pushed humanity towards a cycle driven by technology, energy and market forces." Soni said there has been a longstanding tradition of categorising nations as developed, developing, and underdeveloped, a pattern that began in global discourse with the 1972 Stockholm Conference.

"Since then, every international effort, including the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992, has spoken about development, sustainable development, and protection of the environment. But in 2025, what we see is not global peace but global terrorism; not sustainable development but growing disparity," said the RSS leader.

He argued that although the concepts and intentions behind treaties and summits were good, it seems now that there was a fundamental flaw somewhere.

Pointing to stark inequalities, Soni said the US alone consumes 33 per cent of global resources, while the world population stands at 8 billion.

Referring to thoughts expressed by BJP ideologue late Deendayal Upadhyaya, Soni noted all eco-social-political systems -- be it socialism, liberalism, or capitalism -- emerged with the intention of human betterment.

"But capitalism views human beings as selfish and profit-centric, while communism places faith in giant government machinery. Both systems are in conflict. As Upadhyay had said we need neither capitalism nor communism, but a model focused on the happiness and growth of human beings," Soni stressed.

He contrasted Western individualism with the Indian ethos of integrated living.

"In Western thinking, the individual is the unit. In Bharat, it is the family. From one's parents to the town, the state, and even the world. Everyone is part of the same family," he maintained.

In capitalism, you earn and you eat, but in Bharat, even the disabled and elderly are fed because the family cares for all, the RSS leader emphasised.

He further explained that inclusiveness embedded in Indian social system extends beyond humans.

"We call the cat an aunt, the moon a uncle, the Sun a brother and rivers as mothers. You do not need books to understand Indianness. Just observe Indian society," he said. PTI ND RSY

Source: PTI