BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani on Tuesday said freeing oneself of western influence alone would denote real freedom.
Inaugurating the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of the Jaigopal Garodia National Higher Secondary School in Tambaram here, Mr. Advani said, “Real freedom will come only when we free ourselves of the domination of western education, western culture and western way of life....Humility is the greatest virtue that we have learnt here.”
In May 1979, Mr. Advani, then the Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting, had laid the foundation stone of the first building on the school’s new premises.
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Mr. Advani recalled that then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee inaugurated the silver jubilee celebrations of one of the Jaigopal Garodia schools.
“In a way, this is a greater honour. To see that a school that started with 400 students has 6,000 students now....A real honour for me to be invited here and be asked to address you. This is my gratitude to all the 6,000 students and teachers,” he said.
AIADMK MP V. Maitreyan, an alumnus of the school, said, “Self-confidence, faith in self, conviction, probity and the sense of sacrifice — these are the qualities to look for in a role model.” He added that Mr. Advani was a personification of these qualities.
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The school also used the opportunity to celebrate the 88th birthday of its secretary K. Narayan Rao, a former State BJP president.
Minister for Tamil ‘Ma Foi’ K. Pandiarajan, a one-time member of the BJP, the party’s Rajya Sabha member L. Ganesan, AIADMK MP from Sriperumbudur K.N. Ramachandran, and Vishwa Hindu Vidhya Kendra president S. Vedantam attended the function.
DMK MLA S.R. Raja, who represents the Tambaram constituency, appealed to the AIADMK and BJP leaders that they should work towards acquiring the 13 acres of land needed for a bus terminus in Tambaram.