Chennai, Sept 13: Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today asserted that India would always remain an 'open, inclusive and tolerant nation', with the freedom of faith guaranteed to all, inspite of unfortunate 'aberrations', recurrence of which must be prevented. "I disagree with those who say that Indian democracy is in danger. There is also no need to be skeptical about Indian secularism," he said inaugurating the 125th anniversary of the national English daily 'The Hindu' here this evening. Urging all sections of the Indian media to participate with a sense of mission in the 'adventure' of social transformation to ensure that India will be a 'developed nation', the prime minister said in this process "we have to unlearn many habits and learn new and constructive ones". Stressing that a newspaper should be a "voice of the voiceless and hope of the hopeless", he regretted that common man was often 'invisible' in the pages of glossy newspapers and magazines. "There is a tendency to be hastily judgmental, with a weakness for sensational headlines and editorilising in news columns. Sometimes, objective reportage of facts is compromised in the process," Vajpayee said.


The State Governor P S Ramamohan Rao presided over the function and Dr C Rangarajan, Chairman of the 12th Finance Commission, delivered a special address.

Bureau Report