Vice President's Secretariat
Text of the Vice-President’s Address at the Valedictory Function of the 5th Rajya Sabha Internship Program (Excerpts)
Posted On:
21 FEB 2025 8:42PM by PIB Delhi
We are living in times where challenges are enormous, so are the opportunities. You have seen in last decade exponential economic upsurge, phenomenal infrastructure growth, deep digitisation, technology penetration, transparency and accountability being taken care of by technological aspect of service delivery, people-centric policies reaching out those in the last line.
Therefore, people of the country have tasted development as never before and the Nation in last decade has been one of the Nations at the peak in the world that has seen such kind of rise. This has given a great challenge because Bharat today is the most aspirational Nation in the world.
Commit to Nationalism should never be compromised, no interest whatsoever, and whatever be the compelling circumstances, however compulsive and challenging the situation may be.
National interest can never take back states, personal, political, partisan interest has to be subservient to National interest. Commitment to National interest is not optional, it is fundamental to our being Indians.
There are forces inimical to Bharat and these are sinister forces, they are dangerous forces that have total distaste and dislike for the very concept of Bharat. You have to be extremely vigilant. You, the youth of the country, being the most vital stakeholders in governance, in democracy, are also enjoined to carry out your constitutional ordainment. Framers of our constitution had bestowed fundamental rights on all citizens but I need to enter into a brief caveat. Fundamental rights have to be earned and fundamental rights are best earned when you perform your fundamental duties.
I beseech all of you, to carefully go through the fundamental duties that are in the Indian Constitution in Part IVA. Once you will go through those fundamental duties, you will realise the importance of those duties and also realise every individual can make contribution. It does not require collective working.
Our transformation has to take place on certain fundamentals, each of you needs to focus on five fundamentals.
One- Social harmony is vital, it must transcend all differences. We must nurture it, we must ensure its blossoms because social harmony will help us evolve National unity and, National unity is fundamental to sustain the growth trajectory of the Nation.
Family enlightenment, your parents, your grand parents, your neighbours, your neighbourhood, we are a different kind of a society. A strong feeling for neighbourhood ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ that principle has to start from the family being a unit. You have to nurture it.
Environmental protection, go to our religious functions, go to our traditions, how we find in our epics concern is bestowed on environment, flora and fauna, the planet is not captive of human beings alone. Lack of concern for environment, reckless exploitation for personal gain discarding the age old principle of trusteeship has brought us to this cliffhanging situation.
We are at the cusp of a disaster of climate change menace and, therefore you have to make contributions. Prime Minister's clarion call for ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ has got into Jan Andolan, make sure not only you do it, you persuade everyone you come across to do it
Our institutions are facing structured taint a facet of wokeism. Our Constitutional functionaries are sought to be ridiculed. It is time for you to reflect. Be it to institution of the President, of the Vice-President, or the Prime Minister. These are not political posts, these are our institutions. People fail to show even minimum respect.
My heart bleeds when President of the country, the first ever tribal woman to hold that high office is shamed, ridiculed, even when she performs her Constitutional duty in the joint session of parliament. Her tribal status becomes a cause of concern when the taint is put in public domain. A lady of sterling worth, track record of dedicated service, as a Legislator, as a Minister, as a Governor and now President of India.
A Prime Minister after six decades for the first time, after six decades, continued in office for the third term. Anything and everything can be said, we must not bear with it. I wouldn't come to my position but there are some unforgettable moments of pain when in the sacred premises of Parliament, a mimicry is videographed by a person who holds responsible political position. Sometimes we can overlook but we can never forget, we forgive for a simple reason, that's our culture.
So please believe in our Institutions because they are very strong, be it our Election Commission or our Judiciary. Election commission is wrong when you lose. It is right when you win.
What kind of formula we have?
Let us be judgmental, but on rational premise. Our judgment must have a rationale, a rationale that can be subject to deep analysis.
The country, young friends, is facing a great challenge because we have in millions illegal migrants amongst us. They are making demand on our workforce because they are working, depriving our people of work education facilities, health facilities, government facilities, like Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana.
This infiltration is no less than invasion, just imagine millions of illegal migrants in the country, how severely our security is compromised. The entire world at the moment has become serious about it. We work up, when under the law of some country, some of our own people who were misguided, who were cheated, who were lured into going abroad through the wrong means, come back here but we don't look at the ground under our feet. We are on quicksand. This bomb is ticking for you. I am talking on mindset so generate a mindset. Why should they be here?
Then these change our demographic landscape. They electorally manipulate us.
They start defining democracy.
Surely we can't be yielding on such a challenging scenario.
It is the bound and duty of every Indian to have a point of view, to express that point of view, to have a dialogue about it and call upon the authorities concerned to generate a pressure. This has to end. Whenever there is a talk, something which is in the Constitution, politics enters Uniform Civil Code is a Constitutional ordainment. Founding Fathers of the Constitution had put it under Article 44 of the Directive Principles.
Therefore, let me tell you. I do not know what is the severity of the earthquake that may befall us, but tremors are being already felt. In the country there is emergence of specified areas where elections have ceased to have any meaning at the moment. We cannot afford this kind of challenge to our civilisation.
Our civilization was bled 1200 years ago. Nalanda was blossoming, prospering, a center of knowledge and wisdom. Convergence of scholars from all over the world came. They benefited and they benefited us. Marauders came, invaders came recklessly with extreme brutality, barbarity. Made an effort to destroy our culture, our civilisation, our religious places, and so was the perversion.
Destroy our religious place have their own. Patience and tolerance are virtues, but not at the cost of Nationalism. You here people have to be alert.
Europe is witnessing situations, some countries are witnessing situations. We look calm but this calm is before a storm.
Let us contain that storm. Let us puncture the balloon of a storm, and that can be done only when people change their mindset, share their concern with everyone, generate an opinion, and put their foot down
The latest that has come as a shocking expose is the President of the United States. I am sure you all are aware of what he said, that fiscal muscle was used. Funds were pumped in, to doctor and manipulate our democratic result. He has gone to the extent of saying, I must give my thought on it, that someone else was sought to be elected. To elect is the right only of Indian people. Anyone doctoring or manipulating that process is undermining our democratic values, is subverting our democracy in the process, bringing us under servitude, subservience.
I, therefore, from this platform call upon everyone. Time has come to thoroughly get into this malice, this political COVID infiltrated in our society to destroy our democracy. All those involved in this sinister activity, who benefited out of this structured pernicious strategy must be shamed and brought to book, fully exposed.
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JK/RC/SM
(Release ID: 2105416)
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