In commemoration of Swami Vivekananda’s historic speech at Chicago on Sept 11th, celebrated as Universal Brotherhood Day ,  youth runs were organised by Swami Vivekananda Sardha Shati Samaroh Samiti across the country. The theme was ” Run for the Nation”. On first estimates, over 50 Lacs youth have participated in these runs in over 500 towns and cities.

In Hyderabad also, the run was planned and over 20,000 youth from various walks of life especially student community were motivated & registered for the Run. The Run was to start from Swami Vivekananda statue on Tank Bund and also Babu Jagjivan Ram statue at Nizam college.

How the Hyderabad administration played spoilsport  :  Senior dignitaries of the samiti submitted a request to the police for permission to organise the run over 3 weeks back. However the police kept deferring the issue. 3 days before the event, they came up with a proposal to change the timings of the run. The organisers intimated that the communication has been done far and wide and it would be difficult to change the time now.  They also indicated that the committee has senior retired officials and the run would be organised peacefully.  The police officials then orally committed to continue to run. However on 11th Sept, when the organisesr came to the venue to make arrangements, they were in for a shock. They were arrested ! The pretext was that they had no permission !  It clearly indicates that there was pressure from the mayor who is from the MIM and the Congress government not to allow the event.  The police cleverly gave oral permission so that the organisers do not move the court. The organisers who are peace-loving people were trapped by the police into believing their false promises.

Determination of the youth : In the meantime, thousands of youth started converging into the place where the runs were to start. It would mean that the police had to arrest 20,000 + youth who were all coming to the event for their love for the Nation and Love of Swami Vivekananda. In fact, they also paid Rs.50/- for each T-shirt and wanted to be part of the grand event. 

Government reconsiders and yet shows its ego  : In such a scenario, the police then suddenly saw some light and in order to protect their ego and still get credit that they did not stop the run – the venue was changed to Lumbini park. Thousands of these students then had to be moved to that location and the event was delayed by more than 1 hour. This includes a few thousands of girls also !

 The students then began the RUN for Nation from the new location and it concluded at People’s plaza, Necklace Road. The police and administration were squarely responsible for the huge inconvenience caused.

The questions that the people must ask the government in Hyderabad : 

1. Is Hyderabad governance not interested in encouraging youth to think, dream and work for the nation ? What is the purpose of not allowing an event of this nature when the whole country is involved ?

2. It was informed by the organisers that the run would not take more than 15 minutes. Could the police not manage the traffic for 15-30 minutes ?  If so what is the purpose of a police force ? On the other hand, they organise whole day bandobast for politicians and organise traffic diversion for political leaders’s movements for hours together.

Are the youth of Hyderabad not entitled to show their patriotism for an event which has national resonance ?

3.  Political parties with a divisive agenda like MIM whose Mayor rules Hyderabad today organise programs late into midnight but no action by the police. Why ?

In his speech on Sept 11th, 1893 Swami Vivekananda said ”  Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization, and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. ” 

The government of Hyderabad has proved that it is only dancing to the tunes to the politicians who encourage sectarianism, bigotry and fanaticism for their votes and prevent the advancement of human society by blocking all efforts to develop patriotism and samskaars.

The government must realise that it is programs like ” Run for the nation ” that infuse national pride and togetherness among people and their action only create more disillusionment among youth regarding administration and once again validates their belief that the police is basically meant to put down voices of nationalists !

Arise Bharat !

Photos of the event :

Run For The Nation