Sabarmati/ Nagpur: As is the need of our not only in India, President Pranab Mukherjee right said today emphasizing ‘a cleansing of minds of divisive thoughts’, for ‘the real dirt of India lies not on the streets but in our minds and in our unwillingness to let go of views that divide society into them and us’. Mukherjee has been speaking against intolerance after the Dadri lynching incident and subsequent events. President was giving a speech at a function in Sabarmati Ashram on Tuesday.
Check out the top 10 hard-hitting points Prez Pranab Mukherjee highlighted:
1. Pranab Mukherjee cited Gandhiji’s vision of India as an inclusive nation where every section of population lived in equality and enjoyed equal opportunity and said the essence of being human is “our trust of each other”.
2. Mukherjee said, “Every day, we see unprecedented violence all around us. At the heart of this violence is darkness, fear and mistrust. While we invent new modes of combating this ever spiralling violence, we must not forget the power of non-violence, dialogue and reason”.
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15 May 2025
3. Mukherjee said, Ahimsa (or non-violence) is not a negative force and “we must free our public discourse of all forms of violence, physical as well as verbal. Only a non-violent society can ensure the participation of all sections of the people, especially the marginalised and the dispossessed in our democratic process.”
4. The President said, “Gandhiji gave us an object lesson in Ahimsa by taking the assassin’s bullets with the name of Rama on his lips.”
5. Mukherjee said, “The real dirt of India lies not in our streets but in our minds and in our unwillingness to let go of views that divide society into ‘them’ and ‘us’, ‘pure’ and ‘impure’.”
6. Mukherjee said, “We must make a success of the laudable and welcome Swachh Bharat Mission. However, this also must be seen as just the beginning of a much larger and intense effort to cleanse minds and fulfil Gandhiji’s vision in all its aspects. So long as the dehumanising practice of carrying night soil persists, we cannot have real Swachh Bharat”.
7. Mukherjee said, “‘Father of our Nation’ but also the maker of our nation as he gave us the moral vector to guide our actions, a measure by which we are judged. Gandhiji saw India as an inclusive nation where every section of our population lived in equality and enjoyed equal opportunity. He saw India as a country which would celebrate and constantly strengthen its vibrant diversity and commitment to pluralism. Gandhiji wanted our people to move forward unitedly in ever widening thought and action.And most of all, he did not want us to convert the celebration of his life and message into a mere ritual”.
8. Mukherjee said, “The real essence of Gandhiji’s legacy and its continuing resonance lies in his injunction to us that all our actions must keep in mind the last person. The last person in India is often a woman, a Dalit or an Adivasi.”
9. Mukherjee said, “Everyone must act as trustees of collective welfare and wealth. The essence of being human is our trust of each other. The damage we see to the environment all around us-reminds us of the need for trusteeship”.
10. “Only those who are confident of their conviction, secure in their faith and rooted in their culture can hope to live in an open house, an open society. If we close ourselves in, seek to be immune from other influences, it shows that we are prepared to live in a house that is devoid of fresh breeze. This capacity for compassion and empathy is the true foundation of our civilisation”.
