President Droupadi Murmu on Friday said instilling the feeling of ‘Nation First’ among citizens is essential to make India a developed nation.
She was speaking at the inaugural session of LokManthan-2024 in Hyderabad.
Murmu said it is a commendable effort to strengthen the threads of unity in India’s rich culture, traditions, and heritage. She emphasised that all citizens must understand India’s cultural and intellectual heritage and strengthen the invaluable traditions.
“Diversity provides a rainbow of beauty to our fundamental unity. Whether we are forest dwellers, villagers, or city dwellers, we are all Indians. This feeling of national unity has kept us united despite all the challenges,” she was quoted as saying in a press release.
She stated that efforts have been made for centuries to divide and weaken the society. Artificial distinctions have been created to break natural unity. But, the citizens imbued with the spirit of Indianness have kept the torch of national unity lighting, she added.
The president said that the influence of Indian ideology has spread far and wide in the world since ancient times. India’s religious beliefs, art, music, technology, medical systems, language, and literature have been appreciated all over the world.
“The rulers who looked down upon our rich intellectual tradition instilled a sense of cultural inferiority among citizens. Such traditions were imposed on us, which were harmful to our unity. Due to centuries of subjugation, our citizens became victims of the mentality of slavery,” Murmu explained.
“Instilling the feeling of ‘Nation First’ among the citizens is essential to make India a developed nation,” she added.