Intellectuals dislike to say 'Hindu' because of colonial mindsets: Naidu

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday said some intellectuals dislike to say the word "Hindu" because of their colonial mindsets.

"Saying 'Hindu' is not political," Naidu said at the sixth Rabindranath Tagore Memorial Lecture here.

"Because of colonial rule and colonial mindset, some of us and the so-called intellectuals dislike to say the word Hindu. Main problem is to mix it with religion, actually the word Hindu is combined with civilisation," he said.

Referring to the institutions established by Rabindranath Tagore, Naidu said that Santiniketan was an experiment to link education with life, connect students with nature and develop a harmonious, well rounded personality.

"We need to bring in these elements of spontaneity, creativity and aesthetic sensibility into our education system," he added.

Calling for protecting and promoting age-old Indian civilizational values, traditions and ethos, he stressed the need for a cultural renaiisance.

"The only way to change things is to apply our newly acquired knowledge of economics, agriculture, health, and all other everyday sciences in the neglected villages," he said.

The Vice President said that creation of a new India has to be an inclusive process and called upon the people to continuously strive towards its realization.

He said he was confident that a new India would be an innovation and knowledge hub with promising young digitally-empowered entrepreneurs, technocrats, scientists and academics working in tandem to find indigenous solutions to various problems from climate change to increasing agricultural productivity.

Naidu also released a book titled 'Swami Vivekananda -- Hinduism and India's Road to Modernity'.