VP Dhankhar calls for bonhomie among political parties

New Delhi [India], July 20 : Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday called for bonhomie and mutual respect among political parties, as per a release from the Vice President's Secretariat.
Vice President Dhankar stated, "I appeal to everyone in the political spectrum -- please have mutual respect. Please don't trade unbecoming language on television or otherwise against the leadership of one party or the other. This culture is not our civilizational essence. We have to be careful with our language...Avoid personal attacks. I appeal to politicians. Time for us to stop calling politicians names. It does no good to our culture when, in various political parties, people take on senior people of other political parties and call them names."
"We must have an absolute sense of decorum, mutual respect -- and that is the demand of our culture. We otherwise cannot have unity in our thought process...Trust me, if political dialogue takes place at a higher level if leaders mingle more frequently. They have greater discourse among themselves. They exchange ideas at an individual level -- interest of the nation will be served....... Why should we fight amongst ourselves? Let us not look for enemies within. Every Indian political party and every parliamentarian, to my knowledge, is a nationalist at the end of the day. He believes in the nation. He believes in the progress of the nation," VP Dhankar added.
"Democracy is never of a kind where the same party will ever come to power. We have seen in our lifetime, the change takes place at state level, at panchayat level, at municipal level, that's a democratic process. But one thing is for sure, there has to be continuity of development, continuity of our civilisational ethos, and that comes only from one aspect. We must respect democratic culture," VP Dhankar said.
"A thriving democracy, friends, cannot afford an atmosphere of constant acrimony...Your mind must be disturbed when you find political acrimony, when you find political atmosphere in a different direction. I urge everyone in the country that political temperature must be brought down. Politics is not confrontation; politics can never be unidirectional. There will be different political thought processes but politics means achieving the same object but somehow in different ways. I strongly believe no person in this country will think against the nation. I cannot visualise a political party being against the concept of Bharat. They may have different ways, different thinking; but they must learn to discuss with each other, have dialogue with each other. Confrontation is not a way out. When we fight amongst ourselves, even in the political arena, we are strengthening our enemy. We are giving them enough material to divide us. Therefore, young minds are a great pressure group. You have very strong power. Your thought process will control the politician, your parliamentarian, your legislator, your corporator. Think of the nation. Think of the development", he added.
Addressing the inaugural programme for the eighth batch of participants of the Rajya Sabha Internship Programme (RSIP) at the Vice-President's Enclave today, Dhankhar underlined, " Let us not have politics when there is national interest, let us not have politics over development, let us not have politics when it comes to the growth of the nation. Let us not have politics when it is an issue of national security, national concern and that can happen because India has to stand proud amongst the comity of nations. We are well regarded in the world. The very idea that Bharat can be controlled from outside goes against our claim. We are a nation, a sovereign nation. Why should our political agenda be set by forces that are inimical to Bharat? Why should our agenda be even influenced by our enemies?"
As per the release, drawing attention towards the bitterness among the political parties being reflected on television debates he stated, "Every political party has matured leadership. Every political party, big or small, has commitment towards national development and therefore duty of the youth to ensure this mindset. This thought process must come in social media and once you will find our television debates soothing, positive, appealing, just imagine how much change can come -- just take a moment to observe. What do we usually see? What do we hear? Isn't it tiring to the ears? Our ears are fed up, aren't they? Brother, why is it like this? We come from a great culture. There is a foundation to our ideology."
"We can have differences of opinion -- we can have disagreements -- but how can we have bitterness in our hearts? We are Indians. What does our culture teach us? Anantavad -- the belief in endless dialogue. What does Anantavad mean? It means discussion and debate. What does discussion and debate mean? It means expression. And expression means -- speak your thoughts freely, but do not become so convinced of your own opinion that you believe it to be the final and absolute truth. Don't assume that no one else can possibly have a different point of view than yours," he said.
Highlighting the need for meaningful discussions in the upcoming monsoon session of the Parliament, VP Dhankhar said, " We must be resilient. We must believe in our point of view. But we must also have respect for the other point of view. If we believe in our point of view and think, "I am the only one who is right, and everyone else is wrong" -- that is not democracy. That is not our culture. That is ego. That is arrogance. We must control our ego. We must control our arrogance. We must try to understand why the other person holds a different point of view -- that is our culture."
"What has India historically been known for? Discourse, dialogue, debate, deliberation. These days, we do not see all this happening in Parliament. I assume the upcoming session will be an important one. I have every hope that there will be meaningful discussions and serious deliberations that will take Bharat to greater heights. It is not that everything is perfect. We will never live in times where everything is perfect. There will always be some shortcomings in certain areas at any given time. And there is always room for improvement. If someone gives a suggestion to improve something, it is not condemnation. It is not a criticism. It is only a suggestion for further development. Therefore, I appeal to political parties to engage in constructive politics. And when I say this, I appeal to all parties -- those on the treasury benches, the ruling party, and the opposition parties," the Vice President said.