V-P Dhankhar raises concern over anti-India forces orchestrating "pernicious narratives" against country

New Delhi [India], March 20 : Amid political uproar over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's recent remarks in the UK on India, Vice President and Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday raised concern over the "incubators and distributors" who are orchestrating "pernicious narratives" against the country.

According to him, the anti-India narratives are being spread to downsize the country's growth trajectory and dent functional democracy and constitutional institutions.

The Vice President called for "intelligentsia" and the people to be cognizant of such anti-India narratives, informed the government through a release.

"India is on the rise as never before and the rise is unstoppable. Global relevance and recognition of the Nation are at a level never before. This rise is with challenges from within and without. It is here that the intelligentsia and people from the media come into the picture. We all need to be cognizant of the emergence of incubators and distributors of anti-Indian forces orchestrating pernicious narratives to downsize our growth trajectory and taint our functional democracy and constitutional institutions. It is imperative that we all believe in our nation and nationalism and engage in neutralizing such misadventures," said Dhankhar.

The Vice President said this while addressing a gathering after releasing a book 'Governorpet to Governor's House: A Hick's Odyssey' - a memoir of the former Governor of Tamil Nadu, PS Ramamohan Rao in New Delhi. Dhankhar lauded the former Governor for his contributions to public life and for sharing his insightful experiences in his memoir.

Dhankhar observed that the 'essence of democracy' is that 'all are similarly accountable to law. "No one can have privileged consideration by law and be looked at through a different prism," he said.

Suggesting that India is the most vibrant democracy, he said 'equality before law is something we cannot negotiate'.

Noting that dynamics of governance would always be challenging, the Vice President said it required harmonised functioning of constitutional institutions - the legislative, the executive and the judiciary.

Asking for smooth functioning of the Parliament amid the recent logjams, Dhankhar said, "In democracy, dynamics of governance will always be challenging, requiring harmonious functioning of constitutional institutions, it will always happen. The legislature, the executive and the judiciary - there will always be issues and we shall never have a day when we can say henceforth, there will be no issues, because we are a dynamic society it is bound to happen. There is no room for confrontation or being a complainant by those who head these institutions. Those who are heading the executive, legislature or judiciary, they cannot be complacent, they cannot act in confrontation. They have to act in collaboration and find resolutions together."

Dhankhar reiterated that 'it is the primacy of our constitution that determines the stability, harmony and productivity of democratic governance. "Parliament, reflecting the mandate of the people, is the ultimate and exclusive architect of the Constitution," he said.

Former Vice President of India, Venkaiah Naidu, Governor of Haryana, Bandaru Dattatreya, former Governor of Tamil Nadu and the author, P.S. Ramamohan Rao, Members of Parliament, Shri K Keshav Rao, Y.S. Chowdary and other dignitaries were present at the event.