Maintaining that the world is currently “struggling to deal with the worst impulses of intolerance”, President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday reiterated that this was the time to reinforce the values that bind together the complex diversity of modern-day India and promote them throughout the globe. He was speaking after inaugurating the first-ever International Conference of Indologists.
“We are today witnessing events without precedent; when the world is struggling to deal with the worst impulses of intolerance and hatred that mankind has ever witnessed. At such a time, there can be no better recourse than to remind ourselves of the high values, written and unwritten samskaras (tradition), duties and the way of life that is the essence of India,” he said.
As he sought to remind people of the high values for which the country has been known, the President cited Swami Vivekananda’s message that “the world has yet to learn from India, the idea not only of toleration, but of sympathy”. Ever since the Dadri lynching incident and subsequent events, Mukherjee has been appealing for tolerance and pluralism.
He appealed to the scholars attending the three-day meet to not excessively dwell on ancient times or merely fill the people with nostalgia about India’s grand past but “highlight the manner in which pluralism and multi-culturalism are at the very core of the Indian psyche”. On the occasion, he also asked the younger generation across the world to study, practice and benefit from Ayurveda and other ancient Indian healing systems.
Mukherjee also gave away the first Distinguished Indologist Award to Prof Emeritus Heinrich Freiherr von Stietencron of Germany in recognition of his great work in Indology, or the study of India from the perspectives of history, culture, religion and languages, among others.