Kannur (Kerala) [India], May 22 : Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Monday met his school teacher Rathna Nair at Panniannoor Village in the Kannur district of Kerala.
The Vice-President met Rathna Nair at her residence. Nair taught Dhankhar when he was a student at Sainik School in Chittorgarh.
Jagdeep Dhankhar was accompanied by his wife Sudesh Dhankhar during his visit to Kannur.
He is on a two-day visit to Kerala.
Addressing the silver jubilee celebrations of the Kerala Legislative Assembly building- Niyamasabha- in Thiruvananthapuram today, the Vice-President said that authorities in constitutional positions must exemplify their conduct by high standards of propriety, dignity and decorum.
Dhankhar also stressed that disruption and disturbance in the temples of democracy cannot be weaponised as a political strategy and appealed to Legislators and Presiding officers to urgently address this malaise.
Dhankhar further asked the legislatures to draw inspiration from the Constituent Assembly which dealt with many complex issues without any disruptions and underlined that effective and productive legislative functioning is the safest guarantee to blossoming and preserving democratic values and holding the executive accountable.
He also called for stamping out the "worrisome trend of intolerance towards the other point of view".
Stressing that in a democracy not all issues can be evaluated via a partisan prism, the Vice-President urged everyone to rise above partisan stance, giving primacy to the national interest.
He also raised the question as to why "the wit, humour, and sarcasm- once hallmark of exchanges between stalwarts in the Parliament and Legislatures" are disappearing from public discourse, urging legislators to revive the same.
"The Constitution provides the privilege of freedom of speech within the precincts of the House, however, he cautioned that this freedom should be utilized for a healthy debate to sustain a vibrant democratic tradition, and not for disruptive purposes. Parliament and Legislatures are not platforms of free fall of unverified information," he said.
Emphasising that in any democracy, Parliamentary sovereignty is inviolable, the Vice-President said, "essence of democracy lies in the prevalence of the ordainment of the people reflected through the legitimised platform- Parliament and the Legislatures."
Congratulating the people of Kerala and their elected representatives on this milestone of the silver jubilee of their legislative building, the Vice-President underlined that such buildings are much beyond a work of brick and mortar.
"The Kerala Legislative Assembly building represents the will of the people, the spirit of democracy and essence of the Constitution," he noted.
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