SPEECH
BY SHRI K.R. NARAYANAN, ON HIS ASSUMPTION OF OFFICE AS PRESIDENT
OF INDIA
NEW DELHI, JULY 25,
1997
Respected
Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharmaji,
Hon'ble
Prime Minister,
Hon'ble
Speaker,
Hon'ble
Chief Justice of India,
Hon'ble
Ministers and Members of Parliament,
Hon'ble
Governors,
Hon'ble
Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha,
Hon'ble
Deputy Speaker, Lok Sabha,
Excellencies,
Ladies & Gentlemen,
To
be chosen to the high office of the President of India is an exceptional
honour for any Indian. But to be chosen by such an overwhelming number
of votes, by such willing consensus among the major political formations
of the country, and by such spontaneous goodwill of the people, is for
me a benediction and a boon. I wish to express my boundless gratitude
to the people of India, to their elected representatives and to the political
parties who have reposed their trust and confidence in me.
In
doing so they have risen above the barriers of religion, caste, language
and region that separate us and reached out to the essential unity underlying
this land of immense diversities. That the nation has found a consensus
for its highest office in some one who has sprung from the grass-roots
of our society and grown up in the dust and heat of this sacred land is
symbolic of the fact that the concerns of the common man have now moved
to the centre stage of our social and political life. It is this larger
significance of my election rather than any personal sense of honour that
makes me rejoice on this occasion.
On
this historic occasion I recall with reverence and admiration the men
of eminence who had preceded me as Heads of State : Shri C. Rajagopalachari,
the first Governor-General of free India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first
President of the Republic, and Presidents, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan,
Dr. Zakir Husain, Shri V.V. Giri, Shri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, Shri Neelam
Sanjeeva Reddy, Giani Zail Singh, Shri R. Venkataraman and Dr. Shanker
Dayal Sharma. Each one of them has been an outstanding son of India either
as a freedom fighter or as a scholar. Some like Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma
have been both. Dr. Sharma's erudition, administrative experience and
political sagacity and his fine sense of the appropriateness of things
have stood the nation in good stead in critical moments of its recent
history. May I wish him and the gracious First Lady Smt. Vimala Sharma,
on behalf of all present here, and on my own behalf, many more years of
happiness, good health and useful activity in the service of the people
of India.
We
are now in the 50th year of our Independence. I could hear the Father
of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi, whose ambition was to "wipe every tear
from every eye", and the founding fathers of our Constitution, who had
assured the people of India of "justice, social, economic and political",
asking us the question : "Are things better for our people than before?"
We could report to them that we have made tremendous progress in all directions
since Independence - in food self-sufficiency, in education and in the
health of the people and that the country has become a considerable economic
and scientific-technological power in the world.
These
are substantial achievements. All these have taken place under the framework
of democracy and through peaceful democratic means. India can take pride
in its democracy which, I dare say, is not only the largest but the most
vibrant in the world. It is also a democracy in which secularism, equal
reverence of all religions and faiths, is enshrined in the Constitution.
Gandhiji used to say that "true democracy is what promotes the welfare
of the people". We have, therefore, the obligation to direct all our efforts
to the task of abolishing poverty, ignorance and disease from among our
people. Excessive obsession with the pursuit of pure politics has often
overshadowed the social, economic and developmental needs of the people.
Can we not sink our differences, as we have done in critical occasions
in our history, even in the recent election of the President of the Republic,
and devote our undivided attention, for a time, to the development of
the economy and the welfare of the people. The economic reforms we have
launched have produced a new dynamism in the economy. In the midst of
these reforms we have not neglected the special problems of the masses
and the disadvantaged sections of society. It is imperative that we should
provide for them an effective social and economic support. The under-privileged
sections like the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, the backward classes, the
minorities, and the women who alone constitute half of our population,
and the poor of every strata of our society, irrespective of religion
or caste, must be made to feel the sensation of participation and empowerment.
Indian
civilization has had the unique honour of demonstrating to the world that
man does not live by bread alone. Cultural, moral and spiritual values
have always formed the fundamental underpinning of our society. To-day
there are signs of the weakening of the moral and spiritual fibre in our
public life with evils of communalism, casteism, violence and corruption
bedevilling our society. On January 26, 1948, just a few days before his
martyrdom, Gandhiji, at his prayer meeting referred to "the demon of corruption"
adding that "indifference in such matters is criminal". Since Gandhiji
uttered these prophetic and cautionary words corruption has become widespread,
violence has been erupting in almost every walk of life and values we
have cherished are being eroded in an alarming manner. In this situation
the elders and the leaders in society have the responsibility of setting
examples to our youth who today form nearly 60% of our population, lest
they become cynical about their own lives and callous about the future
of the nation. We must realise that the future destiny of our Nation lies
in the hands of our youth.
I
have today taken a solemn oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.
That Constitution contains the quintessence of the Indian culture and
civilization fashioned over the ages. It also contains the more modern
conceptions of liberty, equality and fraternity. We owe a debt of gratitude
to those known and unknown heroes and heroines whose life long struggle
and sacrifices brought us freedom, and to those great personalities who
bequeathed to us this Constitution. I should mention the name of Dr. B.R.
Ambedkar, the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution,
who pleaded with passion for the cause of social justice as much as he
pleaded for the freedoms and liberties of the people.
Fellow
citizens, India had entertained throughout its history a world vision.
Our sages and seers had thought in terms of the happiness of the whole
of humanity. And Jawaharlal Nehru had designed a foreign policy for India
with a world outlook. We have a role to play in the world and a message
to give to the world. We can do that effectively only if we are united
and strong and in peace and friendship with our neighbours. As President
of India it will be my endeavour to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution
in every respect, including the provision that India will "promote international
peace and security". Likewise, it will be my privilege as Supreme Commander
of the Armed Forces to reflect the nation's pride in the competence and
professionalism of our armed forces. By guarding our frontiers it is they
who make possible the progress within. I shall endeavour do all these
with one goal, one prayer, that India the land of many faiths, languages
and cultures may be great, that India may become prosperous sharing its
prosperity with all its sons and daughters in the spirit of equality and
fraternity, and justice, social, economic and political.
Thank you
|
