PRESIDENT'S SPEECH ON THE OCCASION OF PRESENTATION OF GANDHI PEACE
PRIZE 2002 TO BHARTIYA VIDYA BHAWAN
The President, Dr. A.P.J Abdul
Kalam conferred the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2002 to Bhartiya
Vidya Bhawan, here today. The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari
Vajpayee, Union Tourism Minister, Shri Jagmohan and the president
of Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Dr. R. Venkatraman were among the distinguished
guests present on the occasion.
Following is the full text
of the speech of the President on the occasion:
"I am indeed delighted to
present the Gandhi Peace Prize for the year 2002 to Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan for its significant contribution towards spread of
education, integration of the best of ancient and modern values
and promotion of peace and harmony among all faiths and communities.
I congratulate the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan for its excellent service
to the humanity. I consider awarding Gandhi Peace Prize every
year is an important mission with reverence because it celebrates
the great leader who walked in this planet in the 20th
century as a millennium leader. India is indeed fortunate and
proud to have Mahatma Gandhiji as ‘Father of the nation’, who
was responsible for getting freedom by his writings and actions,
and above all his nobility. When I talk about this great leader
with nobility, I would like to go back to my school days at Rameswaram.
I would like to narrate one incident to you, which fascinated
and shaped me when I was a young boy.
On 15th August 1947, my high
school teacher Rev. Iyyadorai Solomon took me to hear the mid-night
freedom speech of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. We were all thrilled
when Panditji spoke that the mission was achieved. On the next
day that is on 16th August 1947 I had a great experience. An experience
of best of education I can think of. In a Tamil newspaper, on
the front page, two news items appeared. One item was India achieving
freedom and Panditji’s speech. The other news item and the most
important one which has been embedded in my memory is about Mahatma
Gandhiji walking barefoot in a town in Bengal, removing the pain
of riot affected families. Normally as Father of the Nation, Mahatma
Gandhi has to be the first to unfurl the national flag on August
15, 1947 in Red Fort. But he was not there at the Red Fort, instead
he was at Naokali. Mahatma Gandhi was an embodiment of nobility,
elevated thinking and concern for human beings and he was there
where there was pain. What an everlasting positive impact of the
ideal leadership qualities in the mind of a schoolboy?
When I remember Mahatma Gandhiji,
a leader with nobility, it is our fortune to have Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan established in the year 1938 by Dr KM Munshi. Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan has grown from strength to strength with its centres
spread not only within India but also abroad. It has stood steadfast
to its ideal of integration of Indian culture by harmonizing the
best of the past with the best in the present to bestow to the
present and coming generations the best for the future. Bharatiya
Vidya Bhavan’s great service in propagating the message of Gandhiji
on ahimsa, compassion and tolerance and peaceful living with multi-cultures
is commendable. Its significant contribution in the spread of
education and promotion of cultural values, peace and harmony
among all religions and communities on the footsteps of Mahatma
Gandhi is well known. The contribution made by Bharatiya Vidya
Bhavan towards spread of education and promotion of cultural values
in today’s strife-torn world is summed up in the invocation made
by Sardar Patel: "May the Bhavan become the nursery of
torch-bearers of a composite civilization, taking pride in all
that is best in the past, imbibing all that is noble in the present,
shedding light and glory wherever they go and moulding the life
and destiny of a great nation."
Yesterday, I was reading about
Sufi poetess Rabia. She says, "Almighty, if I worship thee
in fear of hell, burn me in hell and if I worship thee in hope
of paradise, exclude me from paradise. But if I worship thee for
thine own sake, withhold not, thine everlasting beauty."
I was searching what is the
significance of ‘everlasting beauty’? What is the everlasting
beauty in a human life? Particularly in the life of nation like
ours? I get an answer. Everlasting beauty is nothing but integration
of multi cultures and multi philosophies with tolerance leading
to great civilisational heritage. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan is one
such institution spreading the message and spreading that everlasting
beauty. My greetings to Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan for their intellectual,
cultural and educational missions leading to civilisational heritage.
Thank you".
