Intolerance of diversity, dissent reason for concern: Hamid Ansari

‘Equality, empowerment and justice constitute the fundamental values of democratic...

Pune

: Vice President Hamid Ansari on Tuesday said there was a reason for concern about -"emergence of a propensity for intolerance of diversity and dissent-" and pitched for evolving a social consensus around equality, justice and empowerment.

Respect for human rights includes acceptance of diversity and not merely tolerance of it, Ansari said. -"It is necessary to make sure that a social consensus around equality, justice and empowerment exists, more so because there is reason today for concern about this consensus and about emergence of a propensity for intolerance of diversity and dissent,-" he said.

Ansari was delivering a speech on 'Social innovation and Social Harmony' at the Pune International Centre. -"This transition from tolerance to acceptance, in actual day-to-day practice, rather than as a mantra in political discourse, is critical for making society fully inclusive rather than selectively so,-" the Vice President said.

Underlining the need for being receptive towards various identities in a plural society lest it should remain only a majoritarian democracy that under-privileges minorities, Ansari said, -"it is for this reason that the Indian Constitution has provisions for the protection of minority rights-".

-"Social innovation, therefore, gets linked to the levels of harmony, freedom, stability and security prevailing in a society,-" he said adding that equality, equity, empowerment and justice constitute the fundamental values of democratic societies.