India has intellectual prowess to find solutions to its problems: Mukherjee

President Pranab Mukherjee said on Saturday that India possessed the intellectual prowess to find solutions to its myriad problems.

Addressing the nation on the eve of the 65th Republic Day, President Mukherjee said: "India must find its own solutions to its problems. We must be open to all knowledge; to do otherwise would be to condemn our nation to the misery of stagnant mire."

Cautioning stakeholders and the people of the country to avoid looking for easy options or imitations to circumvent these problems, Mukherjee said "We should not indulge in the easy option of mindless imitation, for that can lead us to a garden of weeds. India has the intellectual prowess, the human resource and financial capital to shape a glorious future."

"We possess a dynamic civil society with an innovative mindset. Our people, whether in villages or cities, share a vibrant, unique consciousness and culture. Our finest assets are human," he added.

He further went on to say that a democratic nation such as India is always involved in argument with itself. He described this as a situation that should be welcomed, "for we solve problems through discussion and consent, not force."

In an apparent reference to the ongoing deabate and dispute over the bifurcation of the state of Andhra Pradesh and the proposed creation of a new state of Telangana, the President said: "Healthy differences of opinion must not lead to an unhealthy strife within our polity. Passions are rising over whether we should have smaller states to extend equitable development to all parts of a state. A debate is legitimate, but it should conform to democratic norms."

Historically, he said, India has been a repeated victim of a policy of divide and rule, and cautioned that in the new millenium, this must be avided at all costs.

"The politics of divide and rule has extracted a heavy price on our subcontinent. If we do not work together, nothing ever will work," he warned.