First-time voters must vote for a party that would keep the country safe, said Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur here on Sunday.
“I am not naming any political party, but you must vote that party to power which accords top priority to the country’s security, cares for its citizens and stands by soldiers who guard the borders,” he said, during an interaction with students of the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha here on Sunday.
Sandhya Rani (Uttar Pradesh), S.Vaishnavi (Tamil Nadu), Parthasarathi Patri and Durga Charan Panda (Odisha), and Ashish Kumar Pandey (Bihar) asked him questions on topics ranging from politics to youth affairs and the future of Sanskrit.
Highlighting the demographic dividend of the country, Mr. Thakur said the student community should take informed decisions as they played a key role in deciding the country’s future.
He laid emphasis on educating oneself along with imbibing moral values to become citizens with character. He said Himachal Pradesh was the second State after Uttarakhand to accord the second language status to Sanskrit. The decision would go a long way in promoting the language.
Drug abuse
Referring to drug abuse as a major problem among the youth, Mr. Thakur said consumption of alcohol posed a challenge to youth power in the country. When asked if it prohibition was a solution, he said inculcating moral values was a solution instead.
Later, he administered polio drops to infants.
Earlier, Registrar G.S.R. Krishnamurthy, Deans Rani Sadasiva Murthy (Academic affairs) and Prahlad Joshi (Education) accompanied Mr. Thakur to an exhibition on artefacts on the campus and presented him a copy of the ‘Bhagavadgita’.
