India
Mukherjee reminds leaders that legislation time going down in Parliament
Updated : Mar 03, 2017, 07:23 AM IST
 "Pranab Mukherjee")
“There is no room in India for the intolerant Indian,” President Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday, joining the ‘national vs anti-national’ debate.
Delivering an address on ‘India at 70’ in Kochi, he asked those in universities to “engage in reason, discussion and debate, rather than propagate a culture of unrest. “It is tragic to see them caught in the vortex of violence and disquiet,” he said.
President Mukherjee’s comments on Thursday are seen as an expression of discontent at the turn of events in campuses and a raging debate over free speech and nationalism, following the recent tweets by one of Delhi University’s 20-year old student, Gurmehar Kaur, who was trolled and threatened.
Without naming Kaur, Mukherjee said that he does not consider a society or State to be civilised if its citizens’ behaviour towards women is uncivilised. Kaur was allegedly threatened with rape on her Facebook page and was mocked by sportspersons and celebrities.
The President reminded that India has always been a “bastion of free thought, speech and expression”. Without naming any politician, he pointed out that there must be space for “legitimate criticism and dissent. Leaders and political activists must listen to people, engage with them, learn from them and respond to their needs and concerns.”
He admonished lawmakers, saying that the time devoted to legislation has been gradually declining in Parliament. He illustrated it by reeling out statistics of Parliament sittings and the time lost due to interruptions.
For those espousing violence, the President said: “Remember Buddha, Ashoka and Akbar are remembered as heroes in history, not Hitler or Genghis Khan. Reminding that India was a world leader in the field of education when our universities like Nalanda and Takshshila were at the height of their glory, he said these institutions represented the idea of free thought.”
Most presidents in India have preferred to remain titular heads, rather than guiding the conscience of the nation at critical times. In his first speech after assuming office, Mukherjee said that he is not going to spend time speaking to school children on how to dream and go to the moon or take weekend jumbo-junkets to faraway lands.
In 2015, the President had stirred the nation’s conscience by underlining diversity, tolerance and plurality in the wake of the lynching of a man in Dadri over rumours of beef consumption and provocative remarks by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders.
On Thursday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley also joined the nationalism debate, saying that there was a “conscious attempt” by a section to “make it appear that nationalism is a bad word”.
Union ministers Kiren Rijiu and Venkaiah Naidu also had recently spoken on the issue. Rijiju had said that colleges cannot be allowed to become “hub of anti-national activity”.
“No anti-India slogans will be allowed in the name of freedom of speech. Freedom of expression in the country does not give anyone the right to make college campuses hub of anti-national activity,” he had said.
The President ended his address by recalling the story of Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the United States. “After the conclusion of deliberations of the Constitution Convention of 1787, a lady, Ms Pomel from Philadelphia, asked him: ‘Doctor, what have we got, a Republic or Monarchy?’ With no hesitation whatsoever, Benjamin Franklin responded: “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Mukherjee finished his speech with a call to exert ourselves to strengthen India’s pluralism and diversity. “Let us be uncompromising in rooting out violence, prejudice and hatred,” he concluded.
A society is not civilised if citizens’ behaviour towards women is uncivilised
Tragic to see varsities caught in the vortex of violence and disquiet
There must be space for legitimate criticism and dissent
India always a bastion of free thought, speech and expression
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