Attacks on dalits, minorities should be dealt with firmly: President Pranab Mukherjee

NEW DELHI: President Pranab Mukherjee expressed his displeasure at “forces of divisiveness and intolerance” being active in the country in the last four years of his term and the terror activities encouraged by ISIS through radicalisation on the basis of religion even as he called for developing a society that harmonises religion with modern science.

In his fifth address on the eve of Independence Day, Mukherjee said he has seen “a stable and progressive democracy in full play with peaceful transfer of power from one party to another”. He praised the ruling party and the opposition for working together and mentioned the passage of goods and services tax bill as one such example. However, the theme of Mukherjee’s speech was growing disquiet in the country and the need to address this. He lamented that in the last four years he has seen “forces of divisiveness and intolerance trying to raise their ugly head”.

“Attacks on weaker sections that militate against our national ethos are aberrations that need to be dealt with firmly,” he said, and expressed the confidence that forces responsible for it will be defeated. He also mentioned attacks on women and children as a matter of concern.

Mukherjee quoted several eminent people, including Swami Vivekanand, Dr Radhakrishnan, Jawaharlal Nehru and Arnold Toynbee as well as the Upanishads, to drive home his point in his speech. “We should promote and reinforce a scientific temper by questioning our beliefs which are not compatible with scientific way of thinking,” he said.

Though he did not name ISIS, he said the world has witnessed a spate of terror activities having their “roots in radicalisation of people on the basis of religion”. “These forces apart from killing innocent people in the name of religion also threaten to disturb geopolitical divides.”