By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 22 Nov 2014: Despite the constitutional and legal guarantees, religious minorities continue to be target of violence and discrimination from time to time, said Vice President of India Mohammad Hamid Ansari while delivering Eighth V.M. Tarkunde Memorial Lecture here Friday.
“Patterns of systematic mobilisation of hate and divisive politics are discernable; in many cases these have been pursued with impunity. The same holds for other weaker sections of society including SCs and STs, women, children and persons with disabilities. Credible data on these is available in government, academic and civil society reports,” said the Vice President speaking on the topic of ‘Citizens And State Conduct’.
He said that if unchecked divisive politics will harm development of the country.
“These cut at the root of the constitutional principle of equality of opportunity and equal access to justice and highlight the failure of the State to act appropriately. As we embark on the path of rapid economic growth and development, the issue of finding a balance between traditional rights of citizens, with environmental imperatives and economic objectives will have to be addressed by State; else, social tensions will undermine the development agenda,” said Hamid Ansari.
Vithal Mahadeo Tarkunde was a versatile man. An eminent judge whose calibre was acknowledged by the Supreme Court of India in a Full Court Reference, an ardent advocate of civil liberties and human rights, a supporter of causes fighting against injustice, a founder-member of the Committee on Judicial Accountability, and the founder of the Centre for Public Interest Litigation.
“He (Tarkunde) kept alive, as he put it, ‘the hope of the dawn of a new day” with the ‘recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and unalterable rights of all the members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.’ He will be long remembered for his advocacy of secularism, for his propagation of the philosophy of radical humanism, and above all for his persistent efforts to highlight the fragility of individual liberty in the modern State as well as specific cases of injustice. He was a passionate believer in the core values of the Constitution of India,” said the Vice President.
