KOCHI (TIP): There is no room in this country for an intolerant Indian and students in India‘s universities must engage in “reasoned discussion and debate” rather than “propagate a culture of unrest”, President Pranab Mukherjee said on March 2.

“There should be no room in India for the intolerant Indian,” President Mukherjee said while delivering the 6th KS Rajamony Memorial Lecture on “India@70” today in Kerala’s Kochi district. “Those in universities must engage in reasoned 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. Although Mukherjee did not mention the Ramjas College row, his comments came amid the Left and right-wing groups engaged in a bitter, and even violent, debate over whether free speech is unpatriotic.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH GUARANTEED TO EVERY INDIAN:

President Pranab Mukherjee asserted that freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed to every Indian by the Constitution. “There must be space for legitimate criticism and dissent,” he said.

“India has been since ancient times a bastion of free thought, speech and expression. Our society has always been characterized by the open contestation of diverse schools of thought and debate or discussion. Freedom of speech and expression is one of the most important fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution,” he said.

In an apparent reference to the hounding of Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur for questioning the RSS-backed Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Mukherjee said the acid test for any society is how it treats it women and children.

“I do not consider a society or state to be civilized if its citizens’ behavior towards women is uncivilized. When we brutalize a woman, we wound the soul of our civilization. The acid test of any society is its attitude towards women and children,” he said.

POLITICIANS MUST NOT TAKE PEOPLE FOR GRANTED:

Addressing India’s politicians, Mukherjee said they should not take the people for granted. “The leaders or political activists must listen to people, engage with them, learn from them and respond to their needs and concerns. Our lawmakers must never take the people for granted. They must focus on the fundamental task of law making and raising of issues of concern to the people,” he said.

Mukherjee, however, did not dismiss the virtues of patriotism. “The time has come for collective efforts to re-discover the sense of national purpose and patriotism. Sense of national purpose and patriotism alone can lift our nation on to the road of sustained progress and prosperity. The nation and the people must always come first,” he said.