P.M. Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Address to the Nation (Extracts)

There is but one mantra: Let us work together. If we keep blocking each other, how can the country prógress? Let us break out of this destructive habit ...

The politics of negativism and untouchability has run its course. Our mad race to pull each other down by fair means and foul has sullied the image of India in the eyes of the world. It has spread fear and caste and communal divisiveness in society. I sincerely feel-that we, as a nation, must give up this harmful path of confrontation .-

Ours is an ancient civilization. It has been built on consensus, on persuasion, on not mere tolerance. It has been built on an active and deep respect for the faiths and practices of all.

Our sages, say, "Akashaat patitam thoyam, yad gachchati saagaram, Sarva devam namaskaram, Keshavam prati gachchati". (Just as drops of rain falling on varied places, all gather in streams and flow to the one Sea, so also all worship leads to the same Divinity). The Tamil savant Thirumoolar proclaims in his "Thirumandiram": "Ondre kulam, Orvane devan" (We are all of one clan, and there is but one God).

In the Indian perspective, this is the only valid meaning of secularism. My Government is unequivocally committed to this concept of secularism.

My colleagues and I have been nurtured in this tradition. We treasure it. It is by this tradition that we shall recreate the spirit which was the hallmark of the Freedom Struggle-persons of all religions, all religions, all professions working together to create a strong, confident, resurgent India ...

We shall aim, in particular, at equipping the weakest sections of society to participate in this adventure: I have in mind especially members of Scheduled Castes and Tribes, of minorities who may be poor.

It has been quite rightly said that many have used these sections as vote banks, but they have left their real problems exactly as they were: inadequate education, malnutrition and the rest. .

One of the fine accomplishments of the last few years is that relations with almost all our neighbours have improved. My Government will strain every nerve to  accelerate this trend. We are determined to be friends with all and precisely because we happen to be the larger country, we shall be all the more sensitive to the aspirations and needs of our neighbours.

That applies to Pakistan as much as to our other neighbours. Our relations have been and are bedeviled by needless tensions.

But our lives are intertwined. I believe that a happy and prosperous Pakistan will benefit the entire subcontinent, India in particular.

Whenever there is the slightest opportunity to  improve our relations with Islamabad, my Government will go the extra mile. ...

Sarve bhavantu sukhinah Sarve Santu niramayah Sarve bhadrani pasyantu Ma kashit dukha bhag bhavet!

May all enjoy good health; May all dwell in happiness; May all be blessed by auspiciousness; May no one encounter distress.

May this Government be an instrument for realizing this ancient prayer of our sages.                                                                                                                                     Vande Mataram!