The next 25 years, by the end of which the country will celebrate its 100th year of Independence, must be devoted to educating the masses, since they have contributed substantially to nation building and their taxes too went into readying public infrastructure, Governor Arif Mohammad Khan has said.
He said Swami Vivekananda had exhorted ordinary people to acquire knowledge so that no one would deny them their due. “The country’s decline began when we became unfaithful to our traditions and denied education to the masses and the so-called upper classes emerged,” said Mr. Khan, while inaugurating the valedictory session of a national seminar on ‘Indianisation of the judicial system: Indian Constitution – Inspiration, Aspiration and Reality’, organised by Amrut Mahotsav Organising Committee, Ernakulam, on Sunday evening.
People who held positions of authority must by no means have an illusion that they were above others, he added.
Quoting Adi Shankara, he said, “The title and dress is the sole difference between a man in authority and an ordinary man.” Referring to the situation in Kerala, Mr. Khan said there was a robust sense of equality in the State, unlike in most other States, including due to social reform movements of Sree Narayana Guru.
He said the Indian Constitution borrowed much from the country’s celebrated value system. Pluralism and secularism, which Indians had upheld since ages, were alien to most of the other countries till about 150 years ago.
Jawaharlal Nehru University Vice Chancellor Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit and freedom fighter S. Narasimha Naik were among those who spoke. Kerala High Court judge Devan Ramachandran was the chief guest at the inaugural session.
