President: intolerance, violence a betrayer of democracy

In his address to the nation for the 68th Independence Day, President Pranab Mukherjee called intolerance and violence a "betrayer of democracy".

He said, "Those who believe in the poison drip of inflammatory provocation do not understand India's values or even its present political impulses. Indians know that progress, economic or social, is difficult without peace."

Quoting Shivaji's letter to Aurangzeb in the 17th century, President Mukherjee said that all men were created by God "to be examples of the nature of diverse creeds and temperaments."

He also mentioned the escalating violence in the international sphere and urged the nation to protect its secularity. "Across parts of Asia and Africa, attempts are being made by radical militias to redraw the maps of nations to create a geography for theocratic ideology. India will feel the heat of blowback, particularly as it represents the values that reject extremism in all its manifestations. India is a beacon of democracy, equilibrium, inter-and-intra faith harmony. We must defend our secular fabric with vigour," he said.

President Mukherjee also said, "Our security and foreign policies must combine the steel of strength with the velvet of diplomacy even as we persuade the like-minded as well as the hesitant to recognise the substantial dangers that breed within indifference.