Key Points

“I appeal to everyone in the political spectrum - please have mutual respect. Please don't use 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,” he said.

He said that 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 - the interest of the nation will be served. Why should we fight amongst ourselves? Let us not look for enemies within,” he said.

He pointed out that every Indian political party and every parliamentarian, to his knowledge, is a nationalist at the end of the day, and believes in the nation. “He believes in the progress of the nation. 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 the state level, at the panchayat level, at the 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.”

“A thriving democracy, friends, cannot afford an atmosphere of constant acrimony…..Your mind must be disturbed when you find political acrimony, when you find a political atmosphere in a different direction. I urge everyone in the country to bring the political temperature must be brought down. Politics is not confrontation; politics can never be unidirectional,” he said.

The Vice President added that there will be different political thought processes, but politics means achieving the same objective, 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 a 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 a 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, 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?”

- IANS