President: Democracy is noisy but rich in dividend

President Pranab Mukherjee said on Friday that Indian democracy is a “little noisy”, but it always pays rich dividends if the country engages with the issues confronting it.

The President also emphasised on the need to nurture the diversity of India’s pluralistic society, where people of different sections live under one flag and one Constitution. Mr Mukherjee’s views were also echoed by PM Nare-ndra Modi, who said people should be proud of this diversity and respect everyone’s contribution.

The comments of the two leaders came at the release of the book Citizen and Society, written by vice-president Hamid Ansari. The President emphasised that, without effective engagements, democracy couldn’t be protected.

“Democracy is always noisy. Perhaps our democracy is a little more noisy. But, it always pays if we engage ourselves with the issues. It has always paid rich dividend,” he said.

Citing India’s diversity, with 128 crore people, 1,800 dialects, more than 6.5 lakh villages and various ethnicities, the President said that despite all the differences, the whole population lives under one system, one flag and one Constitution. This marvel of Indian democracy is to be nurtured, he said, as “it cannot be preserved, protected and advanced automatically”. Speaking at the occasion, the PM called family as the biggest stren-gth of our country and a link between the citizens and society.

He said that India should be proud to be a country of so many dialects and languages, and so many different faiths, living in harmony. Hailing citizens’ contributions towards making India a harmonious nation, Mr Modi said the country has the power to show the way to society, which is moving through difficulties and challenges.

“Its terminology may not be global or come under a constitutional definition, but its tradition and rules should be sarvajan hityaye, sarvajan sukhaye (welfare, happiness of people),” he said.

Mr Ansari, who wrote the book, said an open society needed more debates. “An open society like us needs more debates, greater elbow room for unorthodox views. A plural society like us needs to develop a mindset to move beyond intolerance to acceptance of diversity,” Mr Ansari said.

The book is a collection of Mr Ansari’s lectures on diverse themes. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was also present on the occasion.