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President exhorts Indians to remain united

President Kocheril Raman Narayanan today said the nation should remain united at all times, like it was during the recent Kargil crisis. "Kargil has shaken us out of our narrow shells and forged a new national unity in the crucible of the common danger suddenly imposed on us," he said.

Addressing the nation on the eve of Independence Day (click here to hear the President's address in Real Audio G2, and here for Real Player 5.0 or less), the President said, "We have to remain united and prepared not only when war-like situations come upon us, but in normal times also, so that we are not ever again taken unawares by surprise attacks."

The Simla Agreement and Lahore Declaration clearly show India's desire for bilateral resolution of the Indo-Pak problems, he said. "We adhere to the same friendly stand, but, as we have been let down more than twice in the past, it is prudent of us and it is our duty to our people to be prepared for any surprise attack on us."

Expressing the nation's gratitude to the defence and paramilitary forces, the President said, "We must resolve now that their sacrifices do not go in vain."

Narayanan stressed the need to equip the defence forces with the latest weapons and force multipliers.

"Hitherto our expenditure on defence has been one of the lowest in the world in terms of percentage of GDP, much lower than that of our neighbours. It is incumbent upon us to rectify this imbalance," he said.

India is a peace-loving country that wishes to live in peace with its neighbours, the President said, adding that it was because of this passion for peace and the desire to avoid a fratricidal civil war in the subcontinent that the leaders of the Indian National congress agreed to Partition.

Referring to the forthcoming parliamentary election, the President urged the candidates and campaigners to maintain democracy's track record, abjure appeals of a narrow, sectarian nature, and show a broad tolerance of one another's opinions.

He made it clear that the ugly phenomenon of voter intimidation and booth-capturing, which has marred voting in some pockets in the past, will not be tolerated. The President appreciated the firmness shown by the Election Commission in this regard.

India's progress in the development of satellites, atomic energy, information technology and biotechnology is not merely an attempt to climb the high peaks of science and technology, but to apply the techniques to problems at the grassroots and to the human needs of the country, he said.

The scientists are now wide awake to the importance of patenting diverse genetic riches before they are taken away by the advanced nations, he added.

India is bound to emerge as a major scientific and technological power in the new millennium, the President said. "Rolling back or putting a cap on the advancement of science is contrary to the very spirit and nature of science and against the equitable world order that we are pledged to bring into being," he noted.

India's relations with China have improved, the President said, adding that it is a matter of satisfaction that India's relations with Africa, the Commonwealth of Nations, the European Union and the United States are marked by warmth and understanding.

India's relations with Russia continue to develop and diversify in several fields as well as in multilateral fora, he said.

India has been striving for a world that is free from the scourge of war and free of weapons of mass destruction. "We pledge to persist with this effort," he said.

Referring to the problems faced by the country, the President said a third of the population still lives below the poverty level, almost half the adult population is illiterate, and more than half the children are undernourished.

The great strides India has made in economic development and in the improvement in the condition of the people has been to some extent negated by the population explosion, he said. There is a need to gather the political and social will to stem this tide.

"Great causes cry out for our urgent attention. The women of India have not yet come out of the long night of discrimination in equality and denial of rights in which they have been living for ages," he said.

"However, it is gratifying to note that they have been rising and organising themselves in movements for self-employment and economic empowerment. They need political support. Their struggle for basic and minimum needs for people -- for food, nutrition, health and education, drinking water and energy -- remains an unfinished business," he said.

"The magnitude of these problems is so immense that if we do not address them as our overriding political, social and economic priorities, the galloping population will overwhelm us in future," the President warned.

"I would like, this year, to convey the boundless admiration and gratitude of the nation to our defence and paramilitary forces. It is the death-defying courage of our young men, hailing from every state and every part of India, the sons of our common folk fighting on the bleak and hazardous heights of Kargil, Batalik and Drass, that protected India's sovereignty and territorial integrity, driving the intruders from our sacred soil across the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. Tomorrow when the national Tricolour flies atop the ramparts of the historic Red Fort and over a multitude of humble dwellings across the land, it will flutter in salute to the flower of our youth who sacrificed everything to preserve the honour of our flag," the President said.

"Years ago, our first prime minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, had noted a common failing of our country and observed that 'the basic fact remains that we have yet to develop as a unified nation... When the immediate danger is removed, we fall back into our respective shells and lose the sense of the whole. We try to get out of these shells and then something happens that lays bare our inner urges and failings. Whether it is provincialism or caste, we still live in a tribal age.'

"Kargil has shaken us out of our narrow shells and forged a new national unity in the crucible of the common danger suddenly imposed on us. Friends, we hear voices from the other side threatening more Kargils in the future. We have to remain united and prepared not only when war-like situations come upon us, but in normal times also, so that we are not ever again taken unawares by surprise attacks," the President exhorted.

"At the same time, let us remember that a country is defended not by arms alone, but by wise policies and the strength of its economy, by the justice and cohesion of its society, by the unity of its people. We are a peace-loving people by nature and tradition.

"We wish to live in peace with our neighbours and with the entire world. Indeed it was due to this passion for peace and our desire to avoid a fratricidal civil war in the subcontinent that the leaders of the Indian National Congress agreed to the Partition of our motherland into India and Pakistan.

"It is ironic that this great sacrifice on our part and our desire to live in peace with Pakistan have not prevented unprovoked aggression and subversion against our country.

"As we celebrate Independence Day, we also recall the foot soldiers of that struggle, countless heroes and heroines who carried aloft the banner of Swaraj. Their aim was to free this ancient land so that millions of Indians sunk in poverty, disease and squalor would rise and live in dignity as free human beings. We have yet to redeem the pledge they gave to our people.

"I am afraid, by and large, we remain reckless consumers than preservers of life-sources. It is time that we took conservation and other environmental questions not as fashionable positions but as matters of life and death. No development will be sustainable or justifiable that ignores nature and the human being.

"Friends, in a few weeks from now the people of India will be exercising their franchise to elect the 13th Lok Sabha and some of the state assemblies. Our record of orderly elections, which form the basis of our democratic polity, is now acknowledged by the world. Indian voters have exercised their franchise and chosen their representatives with practical common sense, they have reposed confidence with generosity, withdrawn it without ambiguity, created, preserved and demolished mandates. No one dares take the Indian voter for granted. It is gratifying for us that today the world significance of Indian democracy has begun to dawn upon the developed democracies of the world. But still we must not forget that often in global power politics, the blood of strategic affinity is thicker than the life-giving waters of democracy.

"I would like to avail this opportunity to urge all contestants and campaigners in the coming polls to maintain our democracy's track record, to abjure appeals of a narrow sectarian nature and show a broad tolerance of the opinions of others. I trust that the ugly phenomenon of voter-intimidation and booth-capturing, which has marred voting in some pockets in the past, will not be tolerated anywhere on this occasion. The firmness shown in this regard by our Election Commission has been widely appreciated."

"On the occasion of Independence Day," the President said, "we also send our greetings to the friendly countries of ASEAN [Association of South-East Asian Nations] with whom we are closely associated, to Japan and to the countries of West Asia and Central Asia with whom we have traditional ties of friendship."

"I am delighted," he said, "that our relations with the People's Republic of China have improved. On the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, I would like to send our warm greetings to the people and government of China.

"It is a matter of satisfaction to us that our relations with the countries of the sister continent of Africa, the Commonwealth of Nations, the European Union and the United States of America are marked by warmth and understanding. Our close relations with our time-tested friend, Russia, continue to develop and diversify in several fields as well as in multilateral fora. This is most gratifying.

"From the inception of our independence, India has been striving for a one-world that is free from the scourge of war and free of weapons of mass destruction. In the new century that is at our doorstep, we pledge ourselves to persist with this effort. Towards this, we would like to see the full potential and scope of the United Nations Organisation realised through wider representation and restructuring. We will continue to attach the greatest importance to the Non-Aligned Movement, in the formation of which we take pride and which has played an important role in ending the nightmare of the Cold War and which we believe is of relevance in providing stability and balance to the pluralistic world order that is emerging," he said.

In conclusion, President Narayanan said: "Friends, on this Independence Day, let us resolve to imbue our lives with the spirit of that midnight hour when we made our tryst with destiny. May the Tricolour continue to inspire us and fulfil our destiny as a people and as a nation."

UNI

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