New Delhi: Speaking at a Rashtrapati Bhavan function after home minister Rajnath Singh said the President “reflects the broad-mindedness of Indian culture”.
Mr Mukherjee said, “If we keep these core values in mind, nothing can prevent our democracy from moving on.”
Mr Rajnath Singh, minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad, former J&K chief minister Farooq Abdullah and some MPs were also present at the function where the President received a book written on him.
The home minister said that in the past five decades, Mr Mukherjee had dominated the political scene, was known as an eminent political leader and a consensus-builder. In his brief 15-minute address, Mr Mukherjee said being a political leader all along, he felt shy speaking on such an occasion after a book had been written about him.
He said the country had made huge progress in many areas and there was no limit on what it could still do. “There is no limit. We will have to do much more,” he said. “I, in my own way, am making my contribution to make the country more important... After three years of coming here, I recognise that much work is (yet) to be done. There is no end to work in the President’s office, which is considered strictly constitutional,” Mr Mukherjee added.
