Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday called for unity against divisive forces, saying that new challenges and social distortions had emerged over the past decades and that the responsibility to address them rested with everyone.

Addressing the Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav Global Sammelan in New Delhi, PM Modi emphasised the need to promote self-reliance and connect every citizen with the vision of a developed India by 2047.

“Times have changed in the past decades. New challenges have arisen for the country. New distortions have emerged in society. Today, the responsibility to resolve them rests with all of us,” the Prime Minister said.

“Today, we have to unite society against the divisive forces. We must awaken our citizens to the need for self-reliance. We must connect every citizen with the resolve for a developed India in 2047. We must become more active towards these objectives,” he added.

PM Modi said he had consistently kept young people at the centre of government policies and expressed happiness over the contributions made by the youth during the Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav celebrations.

“In this journey, I have tried to keep youth in focus in all the policies. I am happy that young people have taken up several responsibilities during the Chinmaya Amrit Mahotsav,” he said.

Highlighting an initiative undertaken by young members of the Chinmaya Mission, the Prime Minister said a group of youngsters had travelled extensively across the country and interacted with thousands of young people.

“My young friends have travelled for 300 days, covering 40,000 kilometres. During this journey, they have met more than one lakh young people. I want to thank the entire team for this,” he said.

Referring to the Upanishadic expression ‘Vayam Amritasya Putrah’, meaning ‘We are the children of immortality’, PM Modi said it did not imply physical immortality but rather the eternal nature of consciousness.

“The meaning of ‘Bharat’ is someone who is engaged in knowledge and research,” he said, highlighting India’s longstanding intellectual and spiritual traditions.

Recalling India’s 75th year of Independence, PM Modi said he had wanted the milestone to inspire the vision of a developed nation while also highlighting the country’s enduring civilisational values.

“When the country marked 75 years of Independence, I thought we should not only make this occasion a platform to inspire the vision of a developed India but also bring to life the spirit of India, which knows how to live by immortal ideas and, drawing on its experience spanning thousands of years, can express concern for humanity across generations,” he said.

The Prime Minister said Swami Chinmayananda had devoted his life to raising awareness about the nation’s cultural heritage and development.

“Those of us who think about the country’s interests should work to make the nation aware and developed. Swami Chinmayananda devoted his entire life to this mantra. With the same devotion with which he spoke about spiritual subjects, he also spoke passionately and extensively about matters concerning the nation, because our nation is the birthplace of our culture and the foundation of our existence,” PM Modi said.

He also recalled Swami Chinmayananda’s birth centenary and the release of a commemorative coin in his honour in 2015. PM Modi described the spiritual leader’s life as a remarkable confluence of knowledge, action and devotion.

Highlighting the government’s efforts to reform education, the Prime Minister said the National Education Policy was introduced to meet the needs of a new India.

He said the policy placed importance on India’s knowledge traditions, education in the mother tongue, modern science and emerging technologies.

US President Donald Trump suggested that further military action against Iran remained possible, while acknowledging that the war could carry a political cost for Republicans in the approaching congressional elections.

Asked how the conflict had affected the election campaign, Trump said Americans were divided over his decision but defended it as necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

“Well in one way, they love it because I’m doing what should have been done by other presidents, and another way maybe they don’t,” he told reporters before departing Washington.

“It’s — there’s a price to pay, which I knew immediately when I did it, but we can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump did not specify whether he was considering a new operation, identify potential targets or give a timetable.

“The Iran War, and we’ve knocked the hell out of them, and we may do it a little bit further,” he said.

That statement was an indication of possible further action, rather than an announcement that an operation had been ordered. His assessment of the damage inflicted on Iran was not accompanied by a military briefing or supporting figures.

The President argued that some voters supported the campaign even if others opposed it.

“I mean, in one way, people probably don’t love it, but many people, many great patriots, really love it. This should have been done a long time ago by other presidents,” he said.

Trump’s comments linked his conduct of the war directly to the domestic political contest.

During the same exchange, the President said Republican prospects would depend heavily on whether his supporters turned out to vote.

The remarks came as UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned in New York that widening conflicts were transmitting economic shocks far beyond the countries where fighting was taking place.

Guterres identified energy markets, shipping lanes, supply chains and financial systems as channels through which wars were affecting households.

“The distance from the Strait of Hormuz to a family home or village market is shorter than we think,” he said.

Guterres called for fighting to stop, civilians to be protected and diplomacy to be given space. He also announced that he would travel to Egypt on Friday.

Asked about the visit, he described Egypt as one of the mediators in the conflict between the United States and Iran. He did not announce a negotiating breakthrough or a meeting between American and Iranian representatives.

The two sets of remarks offered no confirmed timetable for ending the conflict. Trump left open the possibility of further action, while the UN chief emphasised diplomatic efforts and the consequences for civilians and developing economies.

Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Friday accused the BJP government at the Centre of suffering from ‘deep insecurity’ and establishing a virtual “Police Raj” in the country.

The party criticised the arrest and seven-day detention of Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) youth activists Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, who were jailed for carrying the National Flag and protesting peacefully at Delhi’s historic Jantar Mantar against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.

The Thackray camp, in an editorial in the party’s mouthpiece, Samaana, questioned whether the government is afraid of peaceful democratic protests or terrified of young citizens holding the Indian National Flag. It condemned the government for systematically seizing public protest venues — from Mumbai and Delhi to Patna, Lucknow, and Kolkata — denouncing it as the outright choking of democracy.

Pointing out a stark contrast, the editorial highlighted that while courts lecture idealist youths holding the Tricolour, justice appears surprisingly lenient towards perpetrators of grave crimes, citing the case of rape-convicted former politician Kuldeep Sengar, whose sentence was suspended by a judge on the bench.

The editorial criticised the administration for using uniformed forces and political loyalists to suppress dissent, asserting that politicians once faced protesters directly, whereas the current regime hides behind barricades, police forces, and court injunctions.

The editorial detailed how CJP activists Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka were locked up in Tihar Jail after defying prohibitory orders issued by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who unilaterally removed Jantar Mantar from the list of approved protest sites. “The children did not go to Jantar Mantar to play ‘Dandiya’; they went to raise their voice against corrupt electoral practices. If the government were truly generous and democratic, would it lock down Jantar Mantar? Asking protesters to seek government permission before rallying against state injustice is absurd — would a despotic regime ever grant permission for a protest against itself?” questioned the editorial.

Refuting arguments that “unscrupulous elements” might infiltrate public rallies — a rationale cited to justify police clearances — the Thackeray camp pointed out that prominent leaders such as Sonam Wangchuk, opposition MPs, and Parakala Prabhakar (the economist and husband of Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman) have all taken to the streets. “Are these individuals also ‘troublemakers’?” the editorial asked, alleging that actual violence stems from government-backed elements clad in khaki executing crackdowns on students.

Expressing deep disappointment over the High Court’s lecturing young idealists about student unrest in France or Albania, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena urged the judiciary to look at the root cause rather than the symptoms.

The editorial asserted that the policy under the current leadership has become clear — citizens must not ask questions, nor should they demand accountability. The editorial concluded that when a government begins fearing peaceful, nation-loving youths holding the Tricolour, it signals not strength but the peak of political paranoia — a phenomenon uniquely characteristic of the Modi-Shah administration.