Rise above prejudices and dogmas: Kant

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, FEB. 24. The Vice-President, Mr. Krishan Kant, said that a society would become truly democratic only when it rises above past prejudices and dogmas and learns to respect the private space of the individual in matters of faith, family and personal creed.

Declaring the old legislature building a historical monument and dedicating it to the nation here today, the Vice- President said that it takes much more than institutions for democracy to succeed. ``A society becomes truly democratic when it espouses democratic values, rises above past prejudices and dogmas, demonstrates its power to transcend narrow loyalties to pursue higher goals, when it reaches out to its disadvantaged to give them a chance to grow and contribute to the society and when it learns to respect the private space of the individual in matters of faith, family and personal creed,'' Mr. Kant said.

The Vice-President cautioned that in an age in which every action of public institutions and functionaries is blown up to super- sized images across the world, what the legislators do inside and outside the Legislature can never go unnoticed. ``If the people's minds are assaulted relentlessly by images of disorder, chaos, violence, mistrust and disharmony, even the sanest of them start accepting those aberrations as normal. What is even worse, they begin to play out those images in their own behaviour and lives. When this happens, the State, the society as well as democracy weaken,'' he said.

Mr. Kant said the conduct of legislators must stand the severest of tests and reminded them that in a system in which the legislators are their own moral watchdog, it would be facetious to take shelter behind mere technicalities or weaknesses in the laws to escape action for acts of dubious probity. ``People may tolerate their legislators resiling from the strict norms of morality; they rarely forgive it. People have a long memory,'' he added.

Earlier, offering felicitations, the Governor, Mr. Sukhdev Singh Kang, recalled that the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly could not digest his criticism of the Central Government through his policy addresses and added, with a smile, that the course of events has been such that they also seemed to be criticising the Central Government now.

Mr. Kang pointed out that the Assembly hall had witnessed several path-breaking legislations such as those to reform the agrarian relations and effect decentralisation of power. The Assembly hall, he said, was also witness to outstanding eloquence and legislative deeds and hoped that it would be utilised by future generations for their intellectual pursuits.

The Chief Minister, Mr. E.K. Nayanar, hoped that the Assembly hall would enable the coming generations to look at and evaluate history critically. The House, he pointed out, had been witness to the ouster of a democratically-elected Government and the enactment of several trail-blazing legislations.

He regretted what he termed the sincerity of the past generations and the current tendency of Opposition to everything that the Government did and denial of their rightful opportunity to the Opposition by those on the treasury benches. Such tendencies, he said, would do no good for democracy. He hoped that the Assembly hall would enable future generations to view and evaluate history critically.

The Speaker, Mr. M. Vijayakumar, said the Assembly hall would be converted into a full-fledged museum where a visitor would get to see and hear how the House functioned. The rulings of past Speakers, major speeches and interventions would be played over the audio system and the main declarations and enactments of the House exhibited for the benefit of visitors, he said.

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