A short clip from PM Modi’s address to a students’ convention in 2017 to mark the 125th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s Chicago address at the World’s Parliament of Religion in 1893 has gone viral on social media.
In the video, PM Modi said that Swami Vivekanda and Jamsetji Tata shared a cordial relationship and wrote letters to each other. PM Modi also said that Swami Vivekananda was among the earliest proponent of ‘Make in India’ and had urged Jamsetji Tata to set up businesses in India.
Several Congress supporters and ‘independent’ journalists who harboured pathological hatred for PM Modi shared the five-year-old video to attack the Prime Minister and allege that what he said in his speech was untrue.
Swami Vivekananda at the age of 6 requested Jamshedji Tata for make in India 🙄🙄
— Asif Rahman (@Asifrahmanmolla) October 18, 2022
Jamsetji made his move into textiles in 1869
Swami Vivekananda, born 1863 pic.twitter.com/2BkIcc3Q9a
Congress supporters and ‘independent journalists’ alleged that Swami Vivekananda, born in 1863, had urged Jamsetji Tata to set up businesses in India when he was just six since Jamsetji had started his first business in 1869.
जमशेद टाटा का जन्म- 1839
— Krishna Kant (@kkjourno) October 19, 2022
1858 में ग्रेजुएशन किया, पिता के एक्सपोर्ट बिजनेस में लग गए।
स्वामी विवेकानंद का जन्म- 1863
जमशेद ने पहली कंपनी 1869 में शुरू की। विवेकानंद 6 साल के थे।
इनके मुताबिक, स्वामी जी ने जमशेद टाटा से कहा- मेक इन इंडिया लगाओ न!
"भक्तों को उल्लू बनाओ न!" pic.twitter.com/IckOMGxeaT
( वाट्सएप यूनिवर्सिटी के कुलाधिपति का ज्ञान )
— Vikas Bansal (@INCBANSAL) October 18, 2022
जमशेद टाटा को उद्योग लगाने की प्रेरणा स्वामी विवेकानंद से मिली थी : मोदी जी
जमशेद जी टाटा ने जब पहली फैक्ट्री लगाई थी तब विवेकानंद जी की आयु महज़ 6 साल थी
🤣🤣
🇮🇳🇮🇳🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/JQQxyILUSn
New release in market. “Vivekananda requested JemshedJi Tata about Make in India”..🤣🤣
— Guruprasad (@gprasd) October 18, 2022
Fact:JemshedJi starts his textile business in 1869 & Vivekananda was born in 1863..
pic.twitter.com/8nVnwxrOQb
Curiously, the videos were retweeted several thousand times on Twitter even though the cause of sharing a 5-year-old video remains unclear. A raft of Modi detractors retweeted the video and perpetuated the claim that a six-year-old Swami Vivekananda motivated Jamsetji Tata to start businesses and help the motherland, discounting the possibility of the duo’s meeting later in their lives.
Jamsetji Tata wrote a letter to Swami Vivekananda in 1898, seeking his support for Indian Institute of Science
However, contrary to what the propagandists would have us believe, PM Modi was referring to the letter communication that Jamsetji Tata and Swami Vivekananda routinely had, to exchange ideas and intellectual opinions. Moreover, the two had met on board the SS Empress of India in 1893 and the meeting left a lasting impression on Tata which led to the setting up of IISC.
In a letter by Jamsetji Tata to Swami Vivekananda in 1898, the business mogul wrote to the Hindu spiritual leader seeking his support for the establishment of the Indian Institute of Science, the first of its kind in India. The letter also reflected the bonhomie and admiration Jamsetji Tata and Swami Vivekananda shared, providing a rare insight into how the two stalwarts of their respective fields tried to leverage their expertise to advance India’s cause.
On the 155th birth anniversary of #SwamiVivekananda, we go back to the days when our founder Jamsetji Tata met Swamiji while they were traveling together in 1893 on a ship to Chicago from Japan. Read through the letter that JN Tata wrote to Swamiji – https://t.co/8p0Ye4VH1p pic.twitter.com/kHEcMWN7kw
— Tata Steel (@TataSteelLtd) January 12, 2018
“I trust, you remember me as a fellow traveller on your voyage from Japan to Chicago. I very much recall at this moment your views on the growth of the ascetic spirit in India, and the duty, not of destroying, but of diverting it into useful channels. I recall these ideas in connection with my scheme of Research Institute of Science for India, of which you have doubtless heard or read. It seems to me that no better use can be made of the ascetic spirit than the establishment of monasteries or residential halls for men dominated by this spirit, where they should live with ordinary decency and devote their lives to the cultivation of sciences –natural and humanistic,” Jamsetji Tata wrote.
Seeking Vivekananda’s support for the Indian Institute of Science, Tata wrote, “I am of opinion that if such a crusade in favour of asceticism of this kind were undertaken by a competent leader, it would greatly help asceticism, science, and the good name of our common country; and I know not who would make a more fitting general of such a campaign than Vivekananda.”
He further added, “Do you think you would care to apply yourself to the mission of galvanizing into life our ancient traditions in this respect? Perhaps, you had better begin with a fiery pamphlet rousing our people in this matter. I would cheerfully defray all the expenses of publication.”
