Boys and girls, it is a delight to interact with young minds. As indicated by the Secretary General, your average age is 24. India’s demographic dividend is a global envy. 65 percent of our population is below 35 years of age.

The median age of Bharat is 28. China and the U.S. are around 38–39, and Japan is 48 years old. But for this group, it is all the more encouraging — 24 years. With your addition of 45 numbers— the very special 45 — the number goes to 262 interns so far. During my tenure as Vice-President, and by virtue of that, Chairman, Rajya Sabha, I plan to have at least one such intern from every district of the country. It is a tough challenge. We’ll have more courses.

This is the 8th one in the series. The programme is very unique and it will be structured to emerge as a great Parliamentary vertical to be globally recognised as a great knowledge source and convergence of human minds, so that there can be contributions for the evolution of Public policy. If you have any suggestions, you will get a number on which you can share your suggestion, and each suggestion will receive due consideration at my level. Before I come to real fundamentals, keep three things in mind: Be very relaxed, be inquisitive, be a good learner. Try to build bonds amongst yourselves, try to cultivate relationships, try to learn the art of self-learning that will take you a long way, because Bharat did not come into existence on 15th August 1947– that day our bondage ended. We are a unique nation. No other country comes even close to us.

5000 years of civilizational ethos. We are a repository of knowledge and wisdom. If we look at every field– Astronomy to Astrology, Architecture to Aviation- you will find celebrated figures thousands of years ago. If you look at academic excellence, you will find ancient institutions were of great global repute. Nalanda, to name one, and if you look at the collection of books in Nalanda, the library was made to burn for days. The nine-storeyed building, but our knowledge is indestructible.

I therefore would urge all of you to keep one thing in mind. हम भारतीय हैं, हमारी पहचान भारतीयता है। राष्ट्रहित सर्वोपरि है, राष्ट्रहित हमारा धर्म है। When you move around, you will have the opportunity to see things for the first time, but you have to learn by yourself. For example, you will have the occasion to see the Constitution of India.

Now you have to be inquisitive. Where was the first meeting held? Who was the president? You will be surprised by the name of the first president of the Constituent Assembly. You must find out how many committees there were; you must find out how many members were there to begin with. How were those members selected or elected? What was the population of Bharat at that point in time? Where was the Indian Constitution calligraphed, both in Hindi and English? How many miniature paintings does it have? Why those 22 miniature paintings were selected? What is the message given therein? Why do you have Gurukul there? Why do you have Ram, Sita, and Lakshman coming back to Ayodhya after defeating Ravan, the evil. It is there in Fundamental Rights. It is in fundamental rights, your most valuable rights. If you wish to go further, you will see Kurukshetra, Lord Krishna giving that discourse to Arjuna.

You must carefully look at which date the Constitution was signed. Who are those six members who could not sign it? Be inquisitive. Try to get to the root of it, and simultaneously read the Preamble of the Constitution. Preamble of the Constitution is not its heart; it is the soul. आत्मा है !

That says, We the people of India have given to ourselves this Constitution.

The Constitution all over the world carries a Preamble. The only Preamble that has been changed is the Preamble of the Indian Constitution. You don't change your atma.

You don't change your soul. And that was changed during the darkest period of Indian civilisation, Indian democracy. That was during the Emergency.

Where the Supreme Court ruled, there are no fundamental rights. Emergency can continue as long as the government wants. Hundreds and thousands of people were put behind bars.

You, young boys and girls, when you go to that room to see the Constitution, you must remember two things. One, why did we start the celebration of Constitution Day? On 26th November, 1949. The day it was signed.

Because you must remember, we got rid of the foreign rule. We became free once again. We must understand the struggle for freedom. People who laid down their lives, who made great sacrifices.

Our history was not properly written. It is only during Amrit Kaal that we found out that those who laid down their lives were virtually in every district of the country.

We had freedom fighters like Birsa Munda. Khudiram Bose. Go to any part of the country, and you will find them.

So, try to learn about those people who really laid down their lives to give us this freedom. And therefore, you must get fully involved in appreciating Constitution Day. We are celebrating another day to awaken our youth, to remind them that the freedom we earned did not last for 22 months in this country duringthe emergency.

That proclamation was the darkest part of our history. You have to understand. You must go to the root of the Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas.

We always have to keep the principle of the nation first. Those who were put behind bars, most of them became PMs and CMs? Atal Bihari Vajpayee became Prime Minister. Chaudhary Charan Singh became Prime Minister. Many became Chief Ministers. They were great freedom lovers. They were patriots of this country. They believed in our nation.

And therefore, you must always remember why these two days are there. You must read old newspapers. When the press was put under censorship, Indian Express came out with a blank editorial.

Can you understand the meaning of it? Editorial space was kept blank. Such a devastating message was sent. Check the Statesman.

You will find the same thing. And therefore, democracy was defined exactly the wrong way. You must believe in that.

Young friends, you are fortunate. You are living in a time where the atmosphere is one of hope and possibility. But there is a greater duty on you.

You have to strengthen democratic governance through unity. Inclusivity has been our thought process over thousands of years. But all around we find divisive forces.

Young friends, you are fortunate. You are living in Bharat at a time where the atmosphere is one of hope and possibility, but there is a greater duty on you. You have to strengthen democratic governance through unity. Inclusivity has been our thought process over thousands of years. But all around, we find divisive forces.

In every aspect, the nation is sought to be divided. Tell me, for a moment, think. We have rich languages — Sanskrit, the entire world envisaged; Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, all languages. We have classical languages. Find out — how many classical languages do we have? We are globally richest when it comes to languages.

So how can language be divisive? Language should unite us. Those who seek to divide or engage in divisive tactics on account of language need to understand our culture. And our languages are not limited to our country — our languages are known globally. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Sanskrit, Hindi — all are globally known. We have to be careful about it.

And therefore, I strongly appeal to you to be nationalist in your mindset. You must build a culture of unity. Our diversity is not divisiveness. Our diversity is a uniting force. Our diversity is nothing but like different flowers in a garden. You are not all similar. Neither in dress nor in background. You come from several states-17. Am I right? And if I take all the 262, they would have come from all the states of the country, Union territories, and administrative territories. We live in that country.

A thriving democracy, friends, cannot afford an atmosphere of constant acrimony. You are our treasure. You are precious. Your mind must be disturbed when you find political acrimony. When you find a political atmosphere in a different direction. I urge everyone in the country that political temperature must be brought down.

Politics is not confrontation. Politics can never be unidirectional. There will be different political thought processes.

But politics means achieving the same object, but somehow different ways. I strongly believe no person in this country will think against the nation. I cannot visualise a political party being against the concept of Bharat.

They may have different ways, different thinking, but they must learn to discuss with each other, have dialogue with each other. Confrontation is not a way out. When we fight amongst ourselves, even in the political arena, we are strengthening our enemy.

We are giving them enough material to divide us. And therefore, young minds are a great pressure group. You have very strong power. Your thought process will control the politician, your Parliamentarian, your legislator, your corporator. Think of the nation. Think of the development.

Let us not have politics when there is national interest. Let us not have politics over development. Let us not have politics when it comes to the growth of the nation. Let us not have politics when it is an issue of national security, national concern. And that can happen because India has to stand proud amongst the comity of nations. We are well regarded in the world.

The very idea that Bharat can be controlled from outside goes against our claim. We are a nation, a sovereign nation. We are home to one-sixth of humanity.

Our background is 5000 years old. Our knowledge and wisdom come from Vedas and Upanishads. No one can dictate to us.

Why should we allow outside agencies to calibrate us? Why should our political agenda be set by forces that are inimical to Bharat? Why should our agenda be even influenced by our enemies? And why should we fight amongst ourselves? Let us not look for enemies within.

Every Indian political party and every parliamentarian, to my knowledge, is a nationalist at the end of the day. He believes in the nation; he believes in the progress of the nation and therefore, I appeal to everyone in the political spectrum, please have mutual respect. Please don't create unbecoming language on television or otherwise against leadership of one party or the other. This culture is not our civilizational essence. We have to be careful with our language.

Trust me, if political dialogue takes place at a higher level, if leaders mingle more frequently, they have greater discourse among themselves, they exchange ideas at individual level, interest of the nation will be served. Every political party has matured leadership. Every political party, big or small, has commitment towards national development and therefore duty of the youth to ensure this mindset.

This thought process must come in social media and once you will find our television debates soothing, positive, appealing, just imagine कितना बदलाव आ जाएगा, थोड़ा सा देखो। क्या देखते है अपने? कानों को क्या सुनाई देता है? कान पक गए ना!, भाई ऐसा क्यों है? हमारी महान संस्कृति है !

हमारी विचारधारा का एक आधार है। हमारा मत भेद हो सकता है — मतांतर हो सकता है, मनभेद कैसे हो सकता है? हम भारतीय हैं। हमारी संस्कृति क्या कहती है — अनंतवाद।

अनंतवाद का मतलब है वाद—विवाद। वाद—विवाद का मतलब है अभिव्यक्ति। अभिव्यक्ति का मतलब है—आप खुलकर अपना विचार व्यक्त कीजिए, पर अपने विचार में इतना विश्वास मत रखिए कि मेरा विचार अंतिम विचार है। मेरे विचार से दूसरे का विचार भिन्न हो ही नहीं सकता। अक्सर देखा गया है We must be resilient, we must believe in our point of view but we must respect the other point of view.

If we believe in our point of view and we believe I am alone right, others are invariably wrong. That is not democracy, that is not our culture, that is अहंकार, that is arrogance, that is ego.

We must control our ego, we must control our arrogance, we must try to learn why the other person is having a different point of view. That is our culture. India historically has been known for what? Discourse, dialogue, debate, deliberation.

आजकल संसद में यह सब दिखाई नहीं दे रहा है। मैं मानकर चलता हूँ, आने वाला सत्र महत्वपूर्ण होगा।

I have every hope that there will be meaningful discussion, serious deliberations that will take Bharat to greater heights. It is not that everything is well. We will never live in times where everything is well. Something will be lacking in some areas at any point of time. And there is always room for improvement.

If there is a suggestion to improve something, that is not condemnation. That is not criticism. That is only a suggestion for further development. I therefore appeal to political parties to engage in constructive politicking. And when I say so, I appeal to all parties — parties on the treasury benches, the ruling party, and parties that are on the other side.

Democracy is never of a kind where the same party will ever come to power. We have seen in our lifetime, the change takes place at the state level, at the panchayat level, at the municipal level. That's a democratic process.

But one thing is for sure, there has to be continuity of development, continuity of our civilisational ethos, and that comes only from one aspect. We must respect democratic culture. India is perhaps the only country in the world that has structured democracy at all levels.

Constitutionally structured, understand my word. Before 30 years, we had constitutional democracy only in the state Legislature and Parliament. But now we have Constitutional democracy at the village level, at panchayat level, at district level by the state election commission which is as powerful and a constitutional body like the Central Election Commission. Avoid personal attacks, I appeal to politicians. Time for us to stop calling politicians’ names.

It does no good to our culture. When in various political parties, people take on senior people of other political parties and call them names. We must have an absolute sense of decorum, mutual respect, and that is the demand of our culture.

We otherwise cannot have unity in our thought process. I would expect you to look around the world and find out one thing. The promise which you have, the opportunity which you have, the basket of opportunities which is increasing for the youth in our country is not available elsewhere.

India's youth is today most aspirational because the ecosystem is positive. The government policies are affirmative. They are hand-holding. If an idea occurs to you, you can move ahead. So you must get into a culture where we must come out of the age-old silos. Our silos are the only job is government job.

The only opportunity is to work in Government. We have demolished that idea in the last 10 years. Our start-ups, our unicorns, and look at even in the villages.

MUDRA loans have done wonders. So I would want you in particular because I will be having a serious session towards the end where I will get your ideas, where I will get your suggestions, and keep one thing in mind. You are not here for just a few weeks.

You are part of a system. All your life you will come to know who are Rajya Sabha interns. All your life.

This structured body will be connected globally as a great knowledge source. You will get such a good feeling after a few years that if you go to any district, you can immediately find out if there is a Rajya Sabha intern here. You will find he may be in a government job. He may be a businessman. He may be an entrepreneur. He may be a scientist.

But he will carry one thing and that will be common with you. National interest at heart. National mindset. Let me tell you about mindset. What is the use of having highways? If in all the lanes trucks will be running, does the highway matter? Let's say it's an 8 lane highway and all the 8 lanes are occupied. Which means discipline on the road.

Can we allow public order to be challenged? Someone gets a notice from court, thousands of people collect, they shout slogans, stop the traffic. We suddenly find people start burning public property, private property. Why? How can we allow this? When we find noise pollution, anyone uses any kind of discipline.

That is applicable to all entities, all functions. Religious or otherwise. Law is law.

Law has to be followed. And that is why we are a law abiding nation. There was a time, which you must have seen yourself, where some people were above law.

Now nobody is above law. All are accountable to law. Am I right? That means equality before law.

That means democracy. So my only appeal to you is, use every moment to learn. I have instructed the secretariat, the secretary general will personally look into it to your comfort.

Am I right that in the morning they will be having tea at one place? Swamiji, am I right? Good snacks. At the end of the day also. And your meal will be provided from the Canteen.

We are making that provision. Now three things you will have to do. Take note. Three things. You can take mental notes or you can write.

One, write a daily diary. Daily diary. Number two, pick up at least three good friends every day. Am I right? Number three, notice something which even I may not have noticed in the new building of Parliament. The QR code. Go to the library. Learn something new, why it is there. You will have enough homework. Have no tension.

If you have any problem with respect to accommodation or any other issue, we will put a box there, every day. Any suggestion before going to bed, I will read all your suggestions. Some of you have the right even not to put your name. If you think the suggestion is such that you don't need to put your name. I don’t mind. I will get it everyday.

Thank you so much for your patience.

*****

JK/RC/SM

(Release ID: 2146520)