Azad was passionate believer in diversity, says Ansari

Abul Kalam Azad, Independent India's first education minister, was a passionate believer in diversity and the pluralist and liberal nationalism emanating from it, Vice President Hamid Ansari said Tuesday.

Delivering the 43rd Maulana Azad Memorial Lecture here on "A Century of Turmoil in Western Asia: Some Pitfalls of Nationalism", Ansari said that thrust of pluralist nationalism in India is also on the need to readjust state institutions to meet demands of inclusion of marginalised and disadvantaged political groups.

"It is premised on the ground reality of a plural society that is multiethnic, multi-religious and multilingual, a secular polity rather than a religious one, and a democratic state structure functioning on the basis of rule of law," he said.

Ansari said that each of these ingredients constitute the core values of the constitution and none can be abridged or abandoned without damaging the constitutional structure and endangering social harmony.

"Nor can another set of values be grafted on the richness of Indian diversity without impinging on its uniqueness. Citizens know that Article 51 of our constitution enjoins amongst Fundamental Duties the preservation of the heritage of composite culture," he said.

The vice-president said that Azad's approach was premised on an openness of mind, tolerant and accommodative.

"Abul Kalam Azad was a passionate believer in this diversity and the pluralist and liberal nationalism emanating from it," he said.

Azad's birth anniversary is commemorated as National Education Day.