Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said students studying in universities who wished to complete Afzal Guru’s “incomplete job” of blasting the Parliament should be ashamed of themselves. He was addressing students at the convocation ceremony of the Shri Vaishnav Vidyapeeth Vishwavidyalaya here.
“Out of the 920 unversities in the country, few are in the news for the wrong reasons. People there say — Afzal Guru aapne jo kaam adhura choda hai , hum usse poora karenge (Afzal Guru, we’ll complete the job you left incomplete). They should be ashamed of themselves. Guru tried to blast the Parliament. Even I was there, but nothing happened to us,” he said.
Although several private institutions had contributed to the sector, he said, higher education in the country still faced the challenges of access, equity, affordability and equality.
“There was a time we gave knowledge to the world and now we do not figure even in the top 100 universities of the world,” he said. “Educational institutions should focus only on academic excellence. Then physical fitness, mental alertness and social consciousness. Students should not get into other things and controversies.”
Stating that although everyone had the freedom to eat whatever they wanted, some people made an issue out of it, and added, “But then there are those who celebrate beef festival and anti-beef festival.”
“In some areas, they even celebrate kissing festival. It’s a different matter if it’s consensual between two people. But by celebrating it as a festival, why create tension in society? Therefore I advise students to focus on education and raise its standards,” he said.
Exhorting students to be physically fit, he said he played badminton, went for a walk and did yoga every day. “The Prime Minister was kind enough to promote yoga across 172 countries, where they have even opened institutes for it. But in our country, we doubt it. One child asked me once about the benefits of yoga. I told him — if you do yoga, you’ll be yogya (able).”
“One child had an issue with doing Surya Namaskar, so I told him, do Chandra Namaskar instead,” he said. “Yoga is not political. It is not because of Modi, it is for your body.”
As for welfare measures of the government, he said, “Programmes like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao , shouldn’t just be reduced to government schemes. They should be made into people’s movements.”
Mr. Naidu called upon students to follow the diet prescribed by their forefathers. “I am asking you to have food according to seasons and regions. We have diverse foods as well. But pizzas and burgers don’t suit Indian conditions. Nowadays, instant food is in trend. Let me tell you, instant food means constant disease,” he said.
Moreover, he said, primary education should only be in the mother tongue. “Never forget your parents, native place, mother tongue and guru...Even if you go abroad, after acquiring knowledge there, give back to society here,” he said.
More and more women were coming to the fore in fields like literature, medicine and research, he said. “Whichever institute in the country I visit as a guest, 65%-70% gold medallists are girls. This is a positive development and should be encouraged,” the Vice-President said.
