It is necessary that the youth of the country remain physically healthy, mentally healthy, and full of self-confidence, and always stay far away from deadly habits like drugs. This is the objective of this campaign. Therefore, we all must take this resolution. Our youth should understand the dangers of intoxication and drugs, remain fully aware in every way, and stay far away from them. And in this resolution, the National Drug-Free Youth Campaign now has a great role to play.
Friends, as the Member of Parliament from Kashi, I am happy that the pilot project of this campaign was started last year from the sacred land of Kashi. Therefore, along with scientific clarity, it also has spiritual energy, the blessings of saints, and a great cultural heritage. It also has that cultural dedication which has rejected intoxication for centuries. This is why more than 125 crore spiritual organizations and crores of countrymen have joined us today for the welfare of the nation. Social organizations, NGOs have made resolutions in this direction. Everyone together has set a roadmap through the Kashi Declaration. And today we see that welfare thought raised from Kashi has now become a national project. From today, the Drug-Free Youth Campaign is being launched across the country.
Friends, there are some tasks where if an individual tries alone, sometimes one feels disheartened, feels exhausted, and is not ready to walk the long distance. But when it becomes a collective campaign, when crores of people walk shoulder to shoulder, then even those who cannot do something on their own get new energy. There is a power in collectivity, and today, with that power, this campaign is going to touch every young mind. A little while ago, lakhs of youth across the country took an oath of freedom from intoxication. You have resolved to keep your life away from drugs. You have resolved to spread the message of drug-free living in your school, college, and society.
Friends, the resolution taken today will continue to move forward like this for the coming 100 weeks. Every Sunday, there will be activities related to art, culture, sports, meditation, spirituality, and service. The message of freedom from drugs will reach new people. The coming 100 Sundays will be 100 strong steps toward a drug-free India. Friends, today lakhs of students from thousands of schools, colleges, and universities are connected to this program online. My Bharat volunteers are also connected in lakhs. My NSS youth are also with us today. More than 1 crore youth from different regions, different institutions, and different backgrounds of the country are together today.
I request all of you. You are all leaders of this great movement. You have strengthened my belief that India's youth is so aware, so sensible, and so serious about their duties. I extend many best wishes to all of you for this campaign. My young friends, you are the Amrit generation of India. In the next 20-25 years, you will give direction to your own lives, and you yourself will take the country to the destination of a developed India by 2047, and you will be sitting at its summit. You will get the opportunity to savor all of that. The country needs your energy, your imagination, and your talent.
Therefore, it is very important to keep yourself drug-free for the country and for your own life. Intoxication distracts focus and gradually takes the youth away from their own dreams. The young people who performed the street play just now, in a very short time, very effectively showed the problem in their performance, the crisis that arose from it, and the path of collective effort to overcome it. The stage was small, but as they said, let us watch the play. This was not just a play. It was a very big message for all of us. It was awakening us, inspiring us to fight.
Friends, these days we see today's youth dominating the world of startups, leading in AI, waving the tricolor in sports, creating new milestones from space to science. But friends, when any young person gets trapped in drug addiction, it is not just one youth who loses. A dream is lost. A dream dies prematurely. A family loses. An entire family falls apart. Society also becomes a victim of hatred.
Intoxication does not merely harm the body. Intoxication steals a mother's smile. Intoxication shatters a father's dreams. It weakens a sister's hope for Rakhi. It snatches away a younger brother's role model. The elders of the household live with this pain every day that their own child is slowly losing himself, destroying himself, wasting away day by day. They are watching helplessly as their child is ruined before their eyes. And when this happens in families and in society, the nation's strength also weakens somewhere.
And therefore, enemy countries also conspire and leave no effort to drag our country's youth into the grip of intoxication. Earning money by supplying drugs and destroying a country like ours is also part of their terrorist conspiracy. And therefore, we must save every young person from falling into the trap of intoxication.
Friends, by staying drug-free, you must protect your potential. You must keep in mind that drugs give you a high for some time, but they make your career and family life low. We must not give any kind of acceptability to intoxication. Friends, in our society too, intoxication has always been seen as an evil. Our saints and gurus have warned us against it. In Sri Guru Granth Sahib it is also said: 'Jitu peetayi mati doori hoee, barlou pavai vich aai, aapan paraayi na pichhaanay, khasbehu dhakay khaai.' Meaning, the substance whose consumption causes one to lose reason and discernment, where a person forgets the distinction between self and others, such intoxication leads one toward downfall.
Friends, in our culture, warnings have been given for protection, and ways to escape from the habit of intoxication have also been shown. The cooperation of society, the power of yoga and meditation — these give strength to our inner self against intoxication. And today we also have facilities like rehabilitation centers to quit drugs. Therefore, if any young person has mistakenly fallen into intoxication, it does not at all mean that all their paths are closed. We must always keep this in mind. If any child in the family has become a victim of drugs, do not hide it behind the veil of social prestige. Ask for help from whoever is needed. Talk to them openly. Seek the cooperation of experts. Try to free your child from drugs with medical help.
We should also build a culture of open communication with children in the family, so that before getting trapped in such a quagmire, you can hold their hand. You will get a hint. Pay a little attention and you will notice. There are changes coming. They seem lost. They are hiding their face. They are locking themselves in their room. Coming home late at night. Asking for money without reason. You can tell from all these things. You get a hint that something is wrong.
Friends, I also want to make an appeal to our professor friends in colleges and universities. Along with your course teachings, talk to students about the dangers of drugs. Run a movement against intoxication on your campus. Your efforts can bring about great results.
And friends, we must keep one more thing in mind. Those young people who fight and overcome intoxication are not weak. The one who has defeated intoxication and emerged is a true warrior. Society should respect them, show them acceptance, and give them another chance. Because a past connected to drugs cannot be one's identity. Their courage is their identity.
Friends, in the campaign against drugs, the government today is also standing firmly with the youth. Strict action is being taken against drug traffickers and smugglers in the country. Compared to before, many times more arrests have been made. Drugs worth thousands of crores of rupees have also been seized. This shows how strict our government is against drugs. I am confident that the central government, state governments, everyone will do this in mission mode. I am confident that the youth of our country, by staying drug-free, will not only preserve their youthful energy but will also advance the resolutions of a developed India.
And when I see many great saints before me today, from a distance I bow to them in my mind. To all these social organizations, spiritual organizations, spiritual gurus — you have organizations across every corner of the country. Your youth companions and devotees are there. In the coming 100 days, every organization can take one week upon itself. That organization should lead for the entire week across the country. All other forces should join them, and on Sunday, a very big program should be organized. The second week, another organization, another force should lead for the week, organize programs, and on Sunday hold a big event. If for 100 weeks, our country's spiritual, social, and youth organizations each take one week upon themselves, and all other forces join in, and on Sunday everyone comes together — imagine what a massive movement will be created in the country.
I once again express heartfelt gratitude to all of you who took out time and gave your blessings for this sacred work. I especially congratulate the more than 1 crore youth who participated. You have done a great job. I congratulate the My Bharat volunteers. Whatever they take up, they deliver these days. Recently I had the opportunity to meet My Bharat volunteers. They went and stayed for a week each in India's border villages — what was once called the last village of the country, which we now call the first village of the country. Their experiences were very inspiring. The fact that My Bharat volunteers can organize such a large program today is itself a symbol of their aware and dedicated spirit toward the nation. I congratulate them as well. And I am fully confident that with your collective efforts, this movement will reach every household, will reach every young heart, and will become a great terror for drug traffickers. Let us all move forward together. My best wishes to all of you. Thank you very much.
