V-P asks youth to eradicate discrimination

VISAKHAPATNAM: Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu on Friday stressed the need for governance in people’s language, and called upon the youth to take inspiration from the sacrifices of freedom fighters and strive towards a harmonious and inclusive society.

He was addressing a gathering here at the release of a book on the life and parliamentary debates of Umar Alisha, the former pontiff of Sri Viswa Vignana Vidya Adhyatmika Peetham. The Vice-President said one’s focus should be on learning his/her mother tongue first. Described mother tongue as eyes and other languages as goggles, he expressed concern over the negligence of regional languages in all States.  

“We can learn any language, either English, French and other languages, but at the same time we should not forget our mother tongue, which is very important...We can learn English to acquire knowledge, but we should not be dependent on it... We have to give importance to the mother tongue.”               

He asked the youth to build a society that is free from all kinds of discrimination, which would be the real tribute to the sacrifices of the freedom fighters.He paid rich tributes to Alisha for his contribution to the freedom struggle. Describing him as a humanist, Naidu noted Alisha’s efforts in the literary and social sectors as well as for women’s empowerment. 

Referring to the spiritual outlook of Umar Alisha, the V-P suggested that religious and spiritual leaders take the message of ‘service’ to the common people. “It should be conveyed to the people that spirituality and service are not separate, and they essentially seek social welfare,” he added.The Vice-President also said empowerment of women is essential for an accelerated national progress, and underlined the importance of education of girl children for the economic prosperity of the individual, family and the nation.

At another event, the V-P said literature and poetry that focus on societal good remain timeless and that is the  reason why epics like ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharath’ continue to inspire all even today.Speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations of Visakha Sahiti, he observed that literature is the  vehicle through which a nation’s greatness and glory are mirrored and wanted writers, poets, intellectuals and journalists to accord priority to societal good in all their writings and works.