New Delhi: Tolerance for pluralism, compassion for all and love for the motherland are core civilisational values of India where hundreds of languages and all major religions live under one system, President Pranab Mukherjee said today.
“The idea of Bharat flows from eternal wisdom of our rich traditions.
Our core civilisational values, which are equally relevant today – speak of love for motherland, performance of duty, compassion for all, tolerance for pluralism, honesty in life, self restraint in conduct, responsibility in action and discipline,” said Mukherjee speaking at an event here organised by an RSS body and IGNOU.
He added that India is a land of great tradition and discovery which can rise above apparent contradictions and thrive on a composite culture.
“Sometimes I wonder about the huge diversity in which we live and we manage to thrive, 200 languages, 1,800 dialects, all seven major religions in the world, every ethnic group, yet we live under one system, one flag, one Constitution, this is to my mind – Bharatiya approach,” he said at the event – ‘The Idea of Bharat’ – organised by RSS affiliate Bharatiya Shikshan Mandal and Indira Gandhi National Open University.
Constant churning and refinement has been the secret of continuity of “Bharatiya thought” through times of turbulence, he added.
He said “despite the diversity in which we live, we enjoy, we celebrate but don’t ignore individuality when we were talking of great confluence coming from different parts of the world in various streams”.
Speaking about Indian education system, he said it was never allowed to be centralised and that there has existed a “Guru Shishya Parampara” or student-teacher tradition.
Mukherjee said that in contrast to eye for eye and tooth for tooth approach, Indian civilisation gave humanity the message of ‘Sarve Bhavantu Sukhinah’ (May happiness be to all).
The President said India has made much economic progress since Independence.
He hoped that the ideas generated at the three-day conference would be useful for the country.
Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and several top leaders of the RSS were present at the event.
In his speech, Javadekar mentioned the need to understand and convey the correct perception about the country. He said at one time people used to call it a land of snake charmers and things like that.
He added that because of historical invasions, the society faced problems.