Attacks on Dalits & Minorities should be dealt with firmly: President Mukherjee

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi-Against the backdrop of attacks on Dalits and minorities, President Pranab Mukherjee today said these incidents should be dealt with “firmly”, calling the violence against “weaker sections” that militate against the national ethos as “aberrations”.

Coming down heavily on forces of intolerance, Mukherjee cautioned against “unmindful pursuit” of a divisive political agenda and polarising debates by groups and individuals, saying they lead to institutional “travesty” and constitutional “subversion”. The President also made it clear that democracy was not just about exercising choice to elect government periodically.

In his address to the nation on the eve of India’s 70th Independence Day–his fifth since assuming office, the President asked authorities and Institutions of State Power to adhere to the “Maryada”(dignity) in discharge of their duties as established in this ancient Indian ethos.