M Venkaiah Naidu said India has successfully withstood various challenges and overcame them.
There is no scope for outside interference in India's internal matters and the country is capable of addressing its concerns on its own, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday in remarks that come ahead of the European Parliament debating resolutions against India's new citizenship law.
Addressing a gathering after a book launch event, Mr Naidu said he was concerned at the trend of foreign bodies interfering in matters that are "completely within the purview of Indian Parliament and government".
Such efforts were totally uncalled for and unwarranted, the vice-president said, expressing hope that they would refrain from making such statements in future.
"There was no scope for outside interference in India's internal matters," Mr Naidu asserted.
He said whenever basic and fundamental rights of citizens came under threat, "citizens rose in unison and defended them as was seen against emergency".
"Our polity and democracy do provide enough space for expressing differences and dissents whenever warranted," he said, adding that as a result, India has emerged as the most vibrant democracy in the world.
"Recently, some efforts are being made outside India to comment on some laws made by the Parliament and to raise some issues based on inadequate knowledge and insufficient understanding of the issues sought to be addressed by our law makers. Such efforts are totally uncalled for and unwarranted," Mr Naidu said.
Noting that India is a mature Republic and democratic polity, he said, "we are capable of addressing the concerns of any of our citizens and we need no advice or guidance on such matters from others."
As a Republic of 70 years experience, the Vice President said, India has successfully withstood various challenges and overcame them.
"We are now more united than ever before and no one should have any concerns in this regard. We as a nation are committed to the cardinal principle of ensuring Justice, Liberty and Equality for all of our citizens.
"While we are capable of addressing our internal matters as evidenced over the last 70 years, let others do so in their respective domains," he said.
Mr Naidu said not many westerners gave any hope and chance for the India of 1947 to survive and last as a democracy, but they were proven wrong. He complimented the people of the country, political parties, legislatures and the legislators and all other stakeholders including the media for this.
Mr Naidu noted that since the first general elections in 1952, India's Parliament and State legislatures have enacted path breaking legislations aimed at socio-economic and political reforms.
The European Parliament is set to debate and vote on a motion tabled by a large chunk of its members against India's new citizenship law, which it alleges marks a "dangerous shift" in the country's citizenship regime.
A total of six resolutions have been tabled by groups within the European Union (EU), including the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament (S&D), Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) (PPE), Group of the Greens/European Free Alliance (Verts/ALE), European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), Renew Europe Group (Renew) and European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) Group.
The EU Parliament should not take any action questioning the rights and authority of democratically elected legislatures, government sources had said on Sunday, ahead of the debate on the resolutions.
Mr Naidu released the book ''TRG-An Enigma'' on the contribution to education made by educator Tilak Raj Gupta and emphasised that educators of the 21st century cannot merely be content with imparting knowledge, but should serve as true role models to children.
Educators must be capable of amalgamating new technology with ancient traditions and merging new knowledge with age-old cultural values, he said.
The Vice President said that he had always looked upon education as a mission, something that has to be undertaken with the purest of intentions and not profit motive. He advised the best minds in each field, each discipline to turn to teaching and asked practitioners in various fields to find some time to pass on their practical experience to students.
Observing that ''New India'' needed vibrant young thinkers who are willing to experiment and explore the various possibilities around them, he called upon the youth of the nation to become solution-makers.
"Education is meaningful only if it is able to bring out the best in every person and make them more compassionate human beings. The need of the hour is to impart value-based education," he said.
Referring to India's cherished ideal of "Sarva Dharma Sama Bhava'', the Vice President said that secularism is one of the founding principles of the nation and is a value that is ingrained in every Indian. Mr Naidu also said that India is one of the most vibrant, diverse and tolerant nations in the world.