New Delhi:

Neutralizing such “adventure”, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday said some “incubators and distributors” of anti-India forces are running a “damaging narrative” to undermine the country’s growth trajectory and tarnish its functional democracy. stressed the need to

Addressing an event, Mr Dhankhar’s predecessor M Venkaiah Naidu also flagged the issue and said “certain powers” outside the country are making such efforts as they are not happy with India’s growth and rise .

The former Vice President also called for smooth functioning of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the backdrop of the impasse in Parliament over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s recent remarks in the UK.

He said that it is the responsibility of both the ruling party and the opposition to ensure smooth functioning of the Parliament.

Both Mr Dhankhar and his predecessor Mr Naidu addressed the event organized to release a memoir of former Tamil Nadu Governor PS Rammohan Rao.

Mr. Dhankhar said, “India is growing like never before and the growth is unstoppable. The global relevance and recognition of the nation has never been seen before. This growth is accompanied by challenges.”

“This is where intellectuals and media people come into the picture. We all need to be aware of the emergence of incubators and distributors of anti-India forces, which can undermine our growth path and destroy our functional democracy and constitutional Presenting destructive narratives to tarnish institutions.” ,” They said.

“It is imperative that we all believe in our nation and nationalism and engage in neutralizing such misadventure,” he said.

In a democracy, Mr Dhankhar said, all are “equally accountable” to the law.

“Nobody can be privileged by law, otherwise democracy will cease to exist… You are as high as you are, law is always above you. This we all know that there cannot be any such privileges. No enforcement Not possible.” Of these privileges,” he said.

He said that the strictness of the law should apply to all.

“Unfortunately some people think they are different or should be treated differently,” he said without naming anyone.

He said that India is the most vibrant and functional democracy.

“Equality is something we can never negotiate. Abiding by the law is not optional. Some people have to realize it,” he said.

Addressing the event, Shri Naidu said, “Few countries, which have a colonial mindset and have ruled us, ruined us, looted us and cheated us, have been able to appreciate the growth and rise of India. are not.” The former Vice President said that India is a vibrant democracy and people in the country have so much freedom of expression that they can even criticize the Prime Minister.

“I think the Parliament should function. It is not the responsibility of one party. Every party should help in the smooth functioning of the House,” he said.

“In the House, you can debate, criticize, tear the government to pieces with your arguments, but you must allow the institution to function. This responsibility rests on both the ruling party and the opposition. This should be taken into account,” he said.

Comparing his tenure as Governor with that of former Tamil Nadu Governor PS Rammohan Rao, whose memoir was released at the event, Mr. Dhankhar said, “While I would like to have Mamata Banerjee as the Chief Minister Luckily, they also had a female chief. minister (J Jayalalithaa) who had a very strong personality.” Dhankhar said, “We both had to deal with leaders of that caliber…both of us could not complete our term due to different reasons.”

He said, “Both of us scrupulously, scrupulously followed the constitutional provisions. It takes a lot of courage to say after leaving office that there was no occasion to deviate from the constitutional directives.”

He said, “I was lucky. Naiduji was a mentor to many including me. I was getting constant guidance.”

“A governor is required to address the assembly… I have done it on three occasions. On all three occasions, the chief minister was not sure whether I would do it or not. The chief minister could forget that I had people with me. ” One who can guide me, enlighten me, and (hence) there can be no question of deviation,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)