When Swami Vivekananda enthralled Hyderabad

February 13 is a remarkable day in the history of the Pearl City as it coincides with the maiden public speech of the modern monk Swami Vivekananda to Hyderabad in 1893 at the Mahboob College ground. The day and the event assumes greater significance as it preceded the historic Chicago speech of September 11, 1893 where the visionary monk has highlighted the equality of all religions quoting The Vedantic aphorism, Ekam Sat Vipra Bahudavadanti. Swamiji's ideology is timeless.

While the top executive of the country time and again reminds the relevance of Swamiji's ideals in daily life through their speeches on various national and international platforms, the legislative attributes the formulation of the successful New Education Policy – 2020 based on his vision. Swamiji's views have been interpreted by the top judiciary on countless occasions and including the one on secularism in its landmark judgment in the Bommai case.

The 128th anniversary of this historic event not only to be celebrated with great joy and enthusiasm in Hyderabad alone but also across the world since this very incident infused a fresh lease of confidence in the Swami who had been uncertain about his participation in the forthcoming World Parliament of Religions and where he proudly claimed two vitally secular credentials of Hinduism namely Tolerance and Universal acceptance to the world order which was excessively obsessed with religious fanaticism.

The government should consider declaring the day as a day of historic significance in the history of the city as it has the potential of inspiring more youth as Swamiji is revered as the most popular Youth Icon in the country and whose birth anniversary is celebrated as the National Youth Day.

—Satish Reddy Kanaganti, Tipparthy, Nalgonda