Universities should be place of debate, not violence: Prez

TIL Desk/National/Kochi/ Advocating free thinking in university campuses, President Pranab Mukherjee said students and faculties must engage in “reasoned discussion and debate rather than propagating a culture of unrest” He also said it was tragic to see students caught in the vortex of violence and disquiet.

His comments come in the backdrop of the ongoing tussle between RSS-affiliate ABVP and Left-backed AISA supporters in the Delhi University and a raging debate over free speech and nationalism following recent tweets of one of the varsity’s students Gurmehar Kaur.

“It is tragic to see them (students) caught in the vortex of violence and disquiet,” Mukherjee said while delivering the sixth K S Rajamony Memorial Lecture here. Underlining ancient glorious culture of universities in the country, he said, “Our premier institutions of higher education are the vehicles on which India has to propel itself into a knowledge society.”

“These temples of learning must resound with creativity and free thinking,” he said. Mukherjee also cautioned against the exploitation of “fault lines” in the society, intolerance and attack on women. He said there should be no room in the country for the “intolerant Indian” as this nation has been a bastion of free though, speech and expression since ancient times.