Call me Pranab Sir or Mukherjee Sir,” President Pranab Mukherjee, the 80-year-old veteran politician, declared as he walked into a classroom of 60 students.
“Pranab Sir’s class” was a Teachers’ Day treat for students of the Rajendra Prasad Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, which is within the sprawling Presidential Estate complex.
Addressing the excited students, Mukherjee said the need of the hour was to have “inspired teachers” who can keep the trait of curiosity and that of asking questions alive in children.
“We have to build up scientific temper... We must also inculcate in the minds of teachers the spirit of innovation,” the President said.
On being asked what should the country do to improve the economy and its medal tally in the Olympics, he said India needs “growth with equity” and also overall creation of better physical, educational and health infrastructure which are requirements of any healthy society.
With an emphasis on India’s political history and its development since Independence, Mukherjee also talked about the rising menace of terrorism in the country and globally.
“India has suffered the brunt of terrorism, including that of the cross-border variety,” he said. He said it was to the credit and success of India’s policies and acumen of the administration that India was “substantially free” from tentacles of homegrown terrorism, the biggest menace to international peace and community.
“It is we who are attacked and we are the victims of cross-border attacks… But not so much of homegrown terror,” he said, adding this was because of the “ethnicity of mind, belief and faith in pluralism, huge diversity in language, religion, food… Almost in everything.” We all belong to the same system, the President said, adding that this quality was “unique”.
Talking for about 50 minutes to the students on the subject of ‘Politics in India since Independence’, he recounted the evolution of the democratic process in India post Independence, the building up of the electoral process and participation of Indians in constitutional democracy.
The President, who has worked as a teacher before he took the political plunge, also taught the students about the formation of political parties including the creation of the BJP from Jansangh and the advent of coalition politics in the country.
He remembered the “formation” of States by the State Reorganisation of Commission as an “important development” in India’s history. Mukherjee called the Partition of the country as a “psychological trauma” for the people who were extricated from their homes adding creation of communal tension was an aftermath of this but our political leaders and statesmen controlled these issues.
He went on to praise the strength of the Indian economy saying it was steady despite eight years of international slowing down of economy as he hoped that the country’s economy would grow not less than 7.5 per cent in the days to come.
The President also expressed his worry over a recent news item that many schoolchildren in Delhi were not able to read their textbooks and sought corrective measures.
Mukherjee, a Master’s degree holder in history, political science and law, had also talked about the relationship between ‘guru-shishya’ (teacher-pupil) in his Independence Day address to the nation last month.
Delhi’s Education Minister Manish Sisodia, who was also present at the event, said his Government was working to enhance the confidence of people in Government schools so that they can send their children to study in these institutions.