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Referring to V D Savarkar as a “celebrated thinker who stood at the wee hours of the post-war order”, Dhankhar said the ideologue was prophetic (X/@VPIndia)
There has to be greater dialogue amongst political parties as we have no enemies in the country and the political temperature has to come down, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Monday even as he expressed concern about the “contemporaneous global scenario” which he said is “worrisome” for peace-loving nations like Bharat. Speaking at the launch of senior BJP leader Ram Madhav’s book — ‘New World: 21st Century Global Order in India’ — in Delhi on Monday, Dhankhar also asserted that India’s rise is benign as it has never engaged in expansionism.
“Evolution of policies must take place now with a little more representative character. India’s think tanks, they are available in various formats, different political parties. It is required that there be convergence…the political temperature has to come down. There has to be greater dialogue amongst political parties. I firmly believe we have no enemies in the country. We have enemies outside… enemies within, a small fraction, are rooted to outside forces inimical to Bharat,” he said.
Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, Dhankhar said the road to the country’s rise requires careful treading. “There are forces that are determined to make our life difficult. There are forces within the country and outside. These sinister forces, pernicious to our interests, want to strike by dividing us on issues like language,” he said, adding that India can take pride in its language richness and that even MPs can express themselves in 22 languages inside Parliament.
He pointed out that India has always stood for global peace and harmony and never engaged at any time in its history in expansionism. “The contemporary global scenario today is alarmingly concerning and also equally worrisome, particularly for peace-loving nations like Bharat…As Bharat achieves universal well-being for all citizens, we become a role model for others,” he said.
Referring to V D Savarkar as a “celebrated thinker who stood at the wee hours of the post-war order”, Dhankhar said the ideologue was prophetic. “Savarkar, a staunch realist, believed in a post-war world where nations would act only in pursuit of their own interests not based on idealism, morality or international solidarity. Imagine how prophetic he has been. Look around last fortnight, last three months. All this has been seen by all of us. He rejected pacifist or utopian internationalism and emphasised that India must safeguard its sovereignty through strength, not by relying on Western-dominated institutions like the League of Nations or later the United Nations, both ignoring due place to one-sixth of humanity,” he said.
The VP also said the Modi government has been “steadfast, firm, non-negotiable, and notwithstanding the critics — it is spinally strong.” According to him, “the nation has never ever projected its stand so firmly”.
Senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari, former foreign secretary Shyam Saran and former Union minister Suresh Prabhu also spoke at the event.