Standing beneath the portrait of Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who carved Uttarakhand out of Uttar Pradesh exactly twenty-five years ago, CM Dhami said, “Through its hundred years of asceticism, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has unleashed a divine stream of cultural renaissance, social harmony, self-respect, and patriotic service in India.”
“It has ignited the eternal flame of national consciousness in every corner of the country.” The House, packed with legislators, thumped desks in unison. Dhami painted a vivid picture; an India once shackled by a slave mentality now standing tall on cultural pride, scientific temper, and ancient traditions.
“This self-respect is the fruit of the Sangh’s century-long austerity,” he said, crediting the organisation for banishing colonial inferiority from the national psyche. He reminded the House how Devbhoomi itself had weathered storms in its quarter-century journey yet marched forward with unbreakable resolve.
“With your blessings, Uttarakhand will soon be the best state in India,” he promised, drawing cheers from the treasury benches. As the clock struck four, the Chief Minister’s tone turned poetic. He recited lines from a Shakha song beloved by every swayamsevak: “Yeh uthal-puthal uchhal lehar, path se na digane paayegi, patwaar chalaate jaayenge, manzil aayegi, aayegi”…(This turmoil and surge will not deter us from our path, we will keep steering the boat, our destination will come, we will come…).
The opposition, usually quick to interrupt, sat in rare silence, the words hanging like incense in the winter air. Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan then put the motion to a voice vote. “All in favour?” A thunderous “Aye” rolled across the hall.
The resolution passed unanimously, etching the RSS tribute into the official records of free India’s youngest hill state. Outside, schoolchildren waved tricolours while veterans of the 1994 statehood agitation wiped tears. Inside, a century of quiet nation-building received its loudest constitutional salute yet.
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