On a day when the yoga guru Ramdev ended his six-day-long agitation against corruption, President Pranab Mukherjee, in his first address to the nation on the eve of the Independence Day, said that when protests become endemic, the country starts flirting with chaos.
In the speech, Mukherjee said that anger against the bitter pandemic of corruption was legitimate, and there would be times when people lost patience, but it could not be an excuse for making an assault on democratic institutions. These comments by the president come in the backdrop of the recent agitations by Team Anna and Ramdev.
Referring to the debate initiated by Team Anna about the people being bigger than Parliament, Mukherjee said, 'Parliament is the soul of the people – the atman of India – we challenge its rights and duties at our perils.' Hailing the democracy in the country, Mukherjee said that democracy calls for dignity of behaviour and tolerance for contrary views.
He further said that Parliament would live by its own calendar and rhythm, and sometimes the rhythm might sound a bit atonal, but in a democracy there would always be a judgement day, the election.
Mukherjee said that institutions were visible pillars of our constitution, and if they cracked, then the idealism of our constitution could not hold. 'Our institutions may have suffered from the weariness of time. The answer is not to destroy what has been built, but to re-engineer them so that they become stronger than before. Institutions are the guardians of our liberty,' said Mukherjee in the speech.
Showing the economist in him, Mukherjee also spent a large part of his speech on the India growth story. He dwelt upon the need to start a 'second freedom struggle' against poverty. He also said that in the first half of the 20th century, the growth rate of the Indian economy was around one per cent, which jumped to as much as eight per cent in the recent years.
In the speech, Mukherjee said that anger against the bitter pandemic of corruption was legitimate, and there would be times when people lost patience, but it could not be an excuse for making an assault on democratic institutions. These comments by the president come in the backdrop of the recent agitations by Team Anna and Ramdev.
Referring to the debate initiated by Team Anna about the people being bigger than Parliament, Mukherjee said, 'Parliament is the soul of the people – the atman of India – we challenge its rights and duties at our perils.' Hailing the democracy in the country, Mukherjee said that democracy calls for dignity of behaviour and tolerance for contrary views.
He further said that Parliament would live by its own calendar and rhythm, and sometimes the rhythm might sound a bit atonal, but in a democracy there would always be a judgement day, the election.
Mukherjee said that institutions were visible pillars of our constitution, and if they cracked, then the idealism of our constitution could not hold. 'Our institutions may have suffered from the weariness of time. The answer is not to destroy what has been built, but to re-engineer them so that they become stronger than before. Institutions are the guardians of our liberty,' said Mukherjee in the speech.
Showing the economist in him, Mukherjee also spent a large part of his speech on the India growth story. He dwelt upon the need to start a 'second freedom struggle' against poverty. He also said that in the first half of the 20th century, the growth rate of the Indian economy was around one per cent, which jumped to as much as eight per cent in the recent years.