Forces scornful towards India's culture should be retaliated against: Dhankhar

Some misguided people in this great country cannot swallow the progress it has made in recent years, he said.

Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said a small section of people in the country had no respect for its 5,000-year-old cultural legacy and asked those who take pride in it to retaliate against such forces.

Some misguided people in this great country cannot swallow the progress it has made in recent years, he said at a programme held at the Gurukul Kangri University in Haridwar.

"It is a matter of concern that a section of people in the country who are not many, have no respect for India's 5,000-year-old culture or its glorious past. They have a scornful attitude towards it and keep tarnishing the country's image. They are either misled or misguided. They deserve to be retaliated against by people who take pride in our own culture and roots," Mr. Dhankhar said.

"They are against the inclusive education policy in mother tongue. The day is not far away when all education in India will be given in mother tongue," he said.

Describing the Gurukul Kangri (deemed to be) University as the epicentre of Indian nationalism and a symbol of the essence of its cultural ethos, he said some western universities are engaged in tarnishing India's development journey and asked the university to counter this.

"You have the scholarship and erudition that can counter this smear campaign," he said.

Mr. Dhankhar said India will have to return to the Vedas if it wants to regain its position as the Vishwaguru.