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Patna : Ram Nath Kovind, 71, took oath as the 14th President of India on July 25, 2017, becoming the first BJP leader and second Dalit at Rashtrapati Bhavan. He was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice of India (CJI) J S Kehar at the Central Hall of Parliament.
He took oath in Hindi amidst applause and thumping of desk by the gathering including Vice-president M Hamid Ansari, PM Narendra Modi, Lok Sabha Speaker Smitra Mahajan, outgoing president Pranab Mukherjee and former President Pratibha Patil. Former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and H D Devegowda, former Deputy PM and senior BJP leader L K Advani, opposition candidate in the presidential poll Meira Kumar, AICC president Sonia Gandhi, Union ministers and foreign dignitaries were also present on the occasion.
Soon after he took oath, the new President of India Kovind was given a 21 gun salute to mark his assumption of the office of the highest constitutional post in the country. After the oath taking ceremony, Kovind and Mukherjee exchanged seats on the dais.
Ram Nath Kovind was born on October 1, 1945, atParaunkh, near Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. His parents were Maiku Lal and Smt Kalawati. Before assuming charge of the office of the 14th President of India on July 25, 2017, Kovind served as the 36th Governor of Bihar from August 16, 2015, to June 20, 2017. Kovind completed his school education in Kanpur and obtained the degrees of BCom and LLB. from Kanpur University. In 1971, he enrolled as an Advocate with the Bar Council of Delhi, according to a PIB release. Kovind was elected as a member of the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh in April 1994. He served for two consecutive terms of six years each till March 2006.
” I grew up in a mud house, in a small village. My journey has been a long one, and yet this journey is hardly mine alone. It is so telling of our nation and our society also. For all its problems, it follows that basic mantra given to us in the Preamble to the Constitution – of ensuring Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and I will always continue to follow this basic mantra. I bow to the 125 crore citizens of this great nation and promise to stay true to the trust they have bestowed on me. I am conscious I am following in the footsteps of stalwarts such as Dr Rajendra Prasad, Dr S. Radhakrishnan, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, and my immediate predecessor, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, whom we address out of affection as ‘Pranab Da’,” President Kovind said in his speech, according to the PIB release.
We would be completing 70 years of our Independence soon. We are also well into the second decade of the 21st century, a century that so many of us intuitively believe will be an Indian century, guided and shaped by India and its accomplishments. We need to build an India that is an economic leader as well as a moral exemplar. For us, those two touchstones can never be separate. They are and must forever be linked. The key to India’s success is its diversity. Our diversity is the core that makes us so unique. In this land we find a mix of states and regions, religions, languages, cultures, lifestyles and much more. We are so different and yet so similar and united,” he said.
President Kovind said, “As the gram panchayat must determine our consultative and community based problem solving, the Digital Republic must help us leapfrog developmental milestones. These are the twin pillars of our national endeavour. Nations are not built by governments alone. The government can at best be a facilitator, and a trigger for society’s innate entrepreneurial and creative instincts. Nation building requires national pride. India’s voice counts in today’s world. The entire planet is drawn to Indian culture and soft power. The global community looks to us for solutions to international problems – whether terrorism, money laundering or climate change. In a globalised world, our responsibilities are also global. We need to sculpt a robust, high growth economy, an educated, ethical and shared community, and an egalitarian society, as envisioned by Mahatma Gandhi and Deen Dayal Upadhyay ji. “