“We can’t allow core values of our civilization to be wasted”. The core values are that over the years, civilisation celebrated diversity, promoted and advocated tolerance, enjoyed plurality. The President was handed over a coffee-table book on him at a function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi.
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President Pranab Mukherjee will be on a six-day visit to Jordan, Palestine and Israel beginning on October 10.
Speaking after the release of a book about him, he also said, “Many ancient civilisations have fallen”. Despite aggression after aggression, our civilization has survived because of our core civilization values.
Mr. Mukherjee said that if the people kept these values in mind, nothing could prevent the nation from forging ahead.
Mukherjee’s remarks come a week after Mohammed Akhlaq and his family, residents of Bisada village near the town of Dadri in western Uttar Pradesh, were brutally attacked by a Hindu mob alleging that they killed a cow and stored beef in their refrigerator.
His family has denied the accusation. Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah and other MPs were also present at the function. There have been many advancements but we will have to do much more.
President Pranab Mukherjee will make an official visit to Jordan, Palestine and Israel from October 10 to 15, with the trip marking the first official visit by either an Indian head of state or head of government to Israel.
He added that there is no end to work in the President’s office which is considered strictly constitutional and recalled how his friends jokingly commented that he would not have anything much to do in the post.
The statement from Rivlin’s office said that Israel viewed the improving ties with India as “very important”, and was “delighted by the occasion of the first visit of an Indian president to Israel”.
The visit to Israel, in the last and final leg, also holds importance for bilateral ties that have been warming up significantly in recent years.
“The foundation of the relation between the two countries was laid during the visit of the then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to India in 2003”, Wadhwa said.
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Mr. Ansari said the book was a record of the President’s enlightened vision.
