India cannot afford to be divided over languages, says VP Dhankhar

India, an aspirational nation in the world, cannot afford to be divided on the issue of languages, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Tuesday and appealed to to the people to consider the future well-being of the country and "get over this storm."  Also, he made a strong pitch for implementing the National Education Policy 2020 in letter and spirit, as it was a "game changer" in the education sector that could spur further development of the country.

Speaking at the Pondicherry University here, Dhankhar who is the chancellor of the varsity, without naming anyone, lamented that there was opposition to languages. "India is the most aspirational nation in the world as a result of phenomenal development in the last decade," the Vice President said and asked "how can we be divided on languages?"  No country in the world was so rich as India when it came to languages. Sanskrit has global importance and this language along with Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odia, Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Bengali and Assamees were 11 classical languages.

"In Parliament the discourse is allowed by the members in 22 languages. Our languages indicate inclusivity. Sanatan teaches to be in togetherness for the same sublime purpose," Dhankhar added. He appealed to everyone to "soul search, be reflective and rise to the occasion and marvel at our great accomplishments."  Further, he said: "Look at our destination, take into account the future and let us get over the storm."  On the NEP, the Vice President urged the states that have not implemented it to enforce the policy as it was a national education policy, which was a "game changer."  "I appeal to the states which have not adopted and those which are implementing to realise what is given in the policy. Let our boys and girls be fully aware of the benefit of the policy through workshops," he said.

The NEP was the best policy in the world as it allowed the students to fully exploit their talent and potential, besides offering opportunity to pursue multiple courses and optimal utilisation of time.

He pointed that the political leadership should bear in mind that there was no room for confrontation and that disruption and disturbance were not the mechanism which the framers of the Constitution taught us.