Vice President Venkaiah Naidu on Monday urged Pakistan to stop “supporting, aiding and abetting terror”. Naidu was speaking at the Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine in Jammu. His statement follows External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj’s declaration on Monday that “terror and talks [with Pakistan] cannot go together”.
The vice president said peace was a prerequisite for progress. “We want to have good relations with all, including Pakistan,” Naidu said. “We must be willing to have dialogue with Pakistan but it must give up policy of supporting, aiding, abetting, training terror.”
Naidu said India has zero tolerance on matters of national security and unity.
The vice president also spoke on the concept of patriotism. “We try to conclude by saying Bharat Mata ki jai [and] Vande Mataram, and then call it patriotism and nationalism,” The Indian Express quoted him as saying. “What is patriotism? [Patriotism] is not about garlanding the photo of Bharat Mata, or simply guarding the land. Patriotism is about guarding the people, taking care of the suppressed and oppressed, who have been neglected all the time.”
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