Mann Ki Baat, 26th August 2018

Apart from Rakshabandhan, Shravan Poornima is also celebrated as Sanskrit Day.

I congratulate all those actively involved in preserving & conserving this glorious heritage, helping it to reach out to the masses. Every language has its own significance, sanctity. India takes great pride in the fact that Tamil is the most ancient of world languages. We Indians also feel proud that from Vedic times to the modern day, Sanskrit language has played a stellar role in the universal spread of knowledge.

Sanskrit language & literature encompasses a storehouse of knowledge pertaining to every facet of life. Science & technology, agriculture & health, Mathematics & Management, economy & environment, the entire spectrum has been touched upon. It is said that our Vedas have detailed reference on Mantras, on ways & means to counter the challenges of global warming. You will be pleased to know that even today, residents of village Mattur in Shivamoga district of Karnataka use Sanskrit as their lingua franca.

ou will be astonished to know that Sanskrit is a language that possesses the capacity for infinite word formation with two thousand verb roots, 200 suffixes & 22 prefixes; coupled with compounds, the possibility of word-creation is limitless. And that is why the minutest nuance of an expression or subject can be accurately described. This has been the core speciality of Sanskrit. Today, at times, in order to communicate more assertively, we tend to make use of English Quotations or even sher-o-shayari-urdu poetry. But those who are well acquainted with Sanskrit Subhashitas – epigrammatic verses, know very well that it is possible to make a crisp, precise statement, using very few words through the usage of subhashitas. And since there is a sense of geographical & cultural belonging, they are easy to understand & assimilate.

For example, in order to illustrate the significance of the Guru in one’s life, it has been said

एकमपि अक्षरमस्तु गुरु: शिष्यं प्रबोधयेr~ |
प्रथिव्यां नास्ति तद- दृव्यं, यद – दत्त्वा ह्यu`.kh Hkosr~ ||

Thereby meaning, when a guru imparts even an iota of knowledge to the student, there is no material or wealth on the entire earth that the student can make use of, to repay the guru. We must abide by the same essence, the same spirit as we celebrate Teachers’ Day. Knowledge & the guru are incomparable, invaluable, priceless, On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, we remember the great philosopher, former President of India Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan ji. His birth anniversary is celebrated as Teacher’ Day across the country. I felicitate all the teachers in the country on this occasion. I also salute your sense of commitment towards science, education and students.

As soon as the people in our country and abroad heard of the demise of Atalji on 16th August, everyone drowned in sadness. He was a leader who gave up his position as Prime Minister fourteen years ago. In a way, he was cut-off from active politics for the last 10 years. He was neither seen in the news nor in public life.

Ten years is a huge gap but on 16th August our country and the whole world witnessed that there was not a gap of even a single moment in the common man’s heart. The wave of love and faith that spread across the nation is an indicator of his great personality.

During these last days, many great aspects of Atalji came up to the fore. People remembered him as the best member of Parliament, sensitive writer, best orator and most popular Prime Minister and will continue to remember him. The country will ever remain grateful to Atalji for bringing good governance in the main stream. But, I just want to touch upon one more facet of Atalji’s legendary personality and that is the political culture which Atalji gave to India, his efforts in the direction of bringing about the changes in our political culture, his efforts to mould it into an organized framework and which proved very beneficial for India and a bigger benefit will accrue in days to come. This is certain.

India will remain ever grateful to Atalji for bringing the 91st Amendment Act, 2003. This change brought about two important changes in India’s politics.

First one is that the size of the cabinet in states was restricted to 15% of the total seats in the state Assembly.

And the second one is that the limit under the Anti Defection Law was enhanced from one-thirds to two-thirds. Besides, clear guidelines were defined to disqualify the defector. For many years in India, the political culture of forming a very large cabinet was being misused to constitute jumbo cabinets not only to create a divide but also to appease political leaders. Atalji changed it. This effort of his resulted in saving of money as well as of resources. This also helped in improving efficiency. It could only be a visionary like Atalji who brought in this transformation and as a result of this, healthy traditions blossomed in our polity.

Atalji was a true patriot. It was during his tenure that the timing of presenting the budget was changed. Earlier, as was the British tradition, the Budget used to be presented at 5 pm because in London, Parliament used to start working at that time. In the year 2001, Atalji changed the time of presenting the budget from 5 pm to 11 am.

One more freedom- the Indian Flag Code was framed in Atalji’s tenure and it came into effect in 2002. A number of such rules have been included in this code which made it possible to unfurl the tricolor in public places. This provided a chance to more and more of our countrymen to unfurl our national flag. Thus, he brought our beloved tricolor closer to the common man.

You must have noticed how Atalji took bold steps to bring about fundamental reforms, whether in our election process or about the shortcomings concerning the people’s representatives. Similarly, you can see that presently efforts are afoot and discussions are being held about simultaneously holding the elections for Lok Sabha and for state assemblies. The Government and the opposition – both are putting forth their view points. This is a good development and a healthy sign for our democracy. I must say that developing healthy traditions for a sound democracy, making constant efforts to strengthen democracy, encouraging open-minded debates would also be a appropriate tribute to Atalji. Reiterating our resolve to fulfill his dream of a prosperous and developed India, I along with all of you pay tributes to Atalji.