Secularism is safe in India: V-P Venkaiah Naidu

Taking a dig at his critics, Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday said that secularism is safe in India.

"India is the most democratic country in the entire world. Some people complain that secularism is in danger in India. I want to tell them that secularism is safe, not because of the government or other institutions. It is safe because it is in the DNA of our nation."

Naidu was speaking at the 64th national conference of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, held at Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad. Urging youth, students and politicians to develop a constructive attitude towards the development of the nation, he said, "A destructive attitude would do no good to the nation or its people. Youth must abandon maladies like the humiliation of women, casteism and come out of the burdens of unimpressive stereotypes to keep democratic creativity alive. We should be proud of being Indian. A country which forgets its culture and history cannot progress."

"Some people crib about intolerance. They should know that the core of this country is tolerance. We do not discriminate based on religion. We are concerned about culture because it unites us all", he said.

Our textbooks need to be relooked and see to it that we bring in true history. Education is not just for employment but it is for enhancement, knowledge and empowerment. Hence, there needs to be a change in attitude.

Naidu also warned the students of the influence of Western culture and said that youth must opt for Indianised foods, which are time-tested instead of instant food. Urging youth to speak in their mother tongue at home, he said, "Mother tongue is eye-sight whereas another language is a spectacle. We must protect the Indian languages. We should not allow any fight between Bengali, non-Bengali, Telugu, non-Telugu, Tamil, non-Tamil, Hindi, non-Hindi. Patriotism is not loving motherland nor it is saying jay Bharat Ma but it is caring for fellow Indias."

Students and politicians have to be careful of their conduct, he said adding, "More than ideology, ideal behaviour is important. Unfortunately, people have replaced the character, calibre, capacity and conduct with caste, community, cash and criminality.

In a concluding note, he asked ABVP members to spread the message of 'nation first' and asked people to be willing to change according to climates and preserve, propagate and protect" Indian culture.

During the event, the Vice President presented the award in the memory of Yashwant Rao Kelkar to Sandeep Joshi, a teacher from Rajasthan for his outstanding work in the education sector.