Around 12.30 pm Daaji joined the Video conference with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment for the MOU signing on Nasha Mukta Bharat Abhiyaan (All India De-Addiction campaign) at the invitation from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment of India. Present at the conference were Dr. Virendra Kumar Khatik, the Hon'ble Union Minister, Shri Ramdas Athwale, Hon'ble Minister of State, Shri Saurabh Garg, the Secretary, and Smt. Radhika Chakravarthy the Joint Secretary.
He thanked them for inviting Heartfulness to join the Nasha Mukta Bharat Abhiyaan.
Daaji recalled how he had attended the beginning of a state-level initiative in Madhya Pradesh a year earlier. He felt that it is sad that this kind of campaign needs to be organised in our country at all.
In his usual sharp manner, he went to the heart of the matter concerning deaddiction.
Daaji said, “When one can achieve a reversal and get rid of an addiction, it becomes a matter of great pride for oneself. It makes one shine with joy. It takes courage to stop indulging in an addiction. I had spoken about this in Madhya Pradesh too that school-going children from the 8th, 9th, or 10th grade onwards, who begin smoking or taking drugs know where to obtain them from. How is it possible that children know it and not the police? The government has to lay a net and trap the guilty ones. In our ashram last year we had 72 dengue cases. This year we don’t have even one case of dengue. This is because we removed all the sources of this problem. All water bodies where the dengue-spreading mosquitoes breed were destroyed. We did not need to spray pesticides even once in this process. Sources should be destroyed. If we can identify the source, which includes the peddlers, and the street shops, who influence children to start on the addiction must be captured. I tell you that even the police is hand-in-glove with these criminals. I keep repeating this again and again. You have to identify these people. Cut them off from the source. If you ever find a policeman involved in such things, suspend him and jail him for at least 20 years. If peddlers are selling to minors, put them in jail for 20 years. If they are repeat offenders after 20 years of serving a sentence there should not be parole, they should be in jail.
If you want to achieve an addiction-free nation then without such strict punishments it will not be possible.
You may spend millions of rupees on de-addiction centres, medicines, and support systems but I can guarantee you that you will never be successful despite your efforts. Remember that once a person is addicted, he will go and get his drug at any cost even if he has to beat up his own mother to get that money to buy drugs. Destroy the sources. If you can't take such measures there is no point in undertaking such initiatives and leading such movements.
So enact laws, rules, and regulations, to prevent perpetrators and destroy the very source. That is the crux of what I would like to share with all of you today.
We have released so many books on this topic, namely,” Yes You Can Do It - How to De-addict Oneself”. We have also made an app, called Heartfulness Nasha Mukti app. The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh had suggested we create an app for this purpose and in just one week we did so which was shared with people in Madhya Pradesh.
This app helps people to get rid of their addiction. But it is more important to stop people from falling into this trap in the first place by destroying the source of these substances. Jai Hind.”
After the thundering applause to his brave address, tapered off, the Ministry thanked Daaji and said that they had taken careful note of his inputs which would be implemented. While the MOU was being signed, Daaji requested that he would like to add a few thoughts further.
He went on to say, “ I have practiced for many years as a pharmacist. We get inspected every month. Most of the pharmacies sell cigarettes to adults. But now and then they would get caught selling to individuals who looked like they were minors. Some people age slower - they may be 22 or 23 of age yet they look like they are 15 or 16 years of age. We should recruit such adults who go from place to place buying cigarettes, alcohol, and drugs to see if they can catch the offenders who sell to children red-handed. This could be a good way to identify the sources who sell to children and penalize them.”
After the session, Daaji’s granddaughter Layaa wanted his attention and time. Both of them sat in the swing for some time and then Daaji took her for a walk.
