NEW DELHI: Simply saying ‘Vande Mataram’, ‘Jai Hind’ or ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ is not sufficient and people from different religions should feel they are equal stakeholders in the country’s development, said Vice President Venkaiah Naidu at the 66th National Film Awards in the capital on Monday.
“Be it Muslims or Christians or Hindus...believers or non-belivers that’s not the issue… All of us should feel that we are equal partners in the development of the country. That is the real Jai Hind…,” said Naidu. One should promote unity and integrity of the country and work towards preserving its safety and sovereignty, he added.
Naidu made these referrences as protests have broken out nationwide disapproving of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act.
“Dissent is the essence of democracy… Let the government propose, Opposition oppose and House dispose,” Naidu said at the event.
At the event, Naidu also spoke on violent crimes against women that have come to light recently.
“We have to strongly resist to combat the current trend of violence against women, violence in society, violence is no good, for that, the incidence of violence taking place in the some parts of the country. It is no good, it is our own country,” he added.
Naidu who gave away the awards to the winners said the ‘family system’ was core to the concept of India and films were important in promoting the ‘right values’ to the audience.
“The film should be such that you should be able to go with your daughter, with your wife and with your mother...then that is a film that is really good, according to me,” Naidu said but added that was not linked to ‘censorship’.
“Every filmmaker must make a conscious effort to ensure that the dialogues, depiction of characters and costumes reflect Indian culture, customs, practices..Cinema should help in strengthening family system and promoting democractic governance,” he said.
Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar also attended the event.
Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner Amitabh Bachchan could not attend the award ceremony due to his ‘indisposition’ but will attend the high tea ceremony which will be hosted by President Ramnath Kovind later.