Guard against people with evil designs towards our progress: Jagdeep Dhankhar

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): Cautioning against elements looking to harm the country, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Saturday said citizens must "guard against people who have evil designs towards our progress".

Presiding over the inaugural session of the 5th Global Alumni Meet 2024 of Panjab University in Chandigarh, Dhankhar, who is ex-officio Chancellor of varsity, said, "As citizens of this country, it is our prime obligation to ensure that we do not allow the disorder to be order of the day. We must guard against people who have inimical instincts, intentions, evil designs towards our progress."

"Such forces are powerful because they are fuelled by fiscal power which is very tempting. When people fall prey to it, they forget the nation-first principle for a moment," he said.

Asking the alumni of the prestigious university to exploit its resources to nurture the institution, he said, "Countries are known by the institutions they nurture. It is institutions that are crucibles of innovation and research. They catalyse big change, they create concepts. Just imagine the power of the alumni of institutions if they act in a structured manner. If they nurture their alma mater, the results will not be geometrical, they will be incremental!"

Vice President Dhankhar also highlighted that the alumni of Panjab University have occupied positions of the President, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the country, Cabinet Ministers, Secretaries and Cabinet Secretaries and in the armed forces.

"They have excelled in journalism, art, culture and sports. But I am here to see their commitment only as alumni of this institution!" he said.

"There is a question before all of us: Has the rich resource of alumni of this prestigious university exploited its resources, its talent or potential to nurture this institution? I leave this soul-searching to all of you," he said. "We are at a turning point in our history. We have entered the last quarter of the century of the adoption of the Indian Constitution. It is the right time for the alumni of this prestigious university to take a call," he said.