In a striking address, RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat affirmed the reality of the climate crisis and cautioned against unchecked materialism, asserting that it drives environmental calamities such as floods, landslides, and the melting of glaciers. He urged India to offer a “Dharmic model” of development — one transcending religious boundaries — that harmonises human life with nature and emphasises collective well-being over consumption.

Bhagwat argued that humanity’s disconnection from nature leads to arbitrary exploitation and ecological imbalance. He spoke of geological upheavals —slides, floods, glacier retreats— as symptomatic of that broader disconnect. According to him, traditional Indian outlooks rooted in respect for the natural world offer a corrective path forward here.