The North News
New Delhi, May 17
Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar has called for a deep rethink of the country’s economic dependencies and urged citizens to prioritise “economic nationalism,” warning that bolstering economies hostile to India’s interests is no longer tenable. Speaking at the annual convocation of the Jaipuria Institute of Management, held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, Dhankhar questioned the wisdom of trade and travel that, he said, inadvertently strengthen nations that stand against India during moments of crisis. “Can we afford to empower countries that are inimical to our interests?” he asked. “Time has come when each one of us must deeply think about economic nationalism.”
In a speech , Dhankhar stressed that every citizen – and especially those in business and industry – has a role in safeguarding national security. “Everything has to be reckoned on the fulcrum of deep, unflinching commitment to nationalism,” he said. “That mindset we must teach our toddlers right from day one.”
The Vice-President also praised the Indian armed forces and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for what he described as the “remarkable success” of Operation Sindoor – India’s military response to the deadly terror attack in Pahalgam. Though details of the operation have not been made official, Dhankhar referred to a cross-border strike targeting militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba at their alleged bases deep inside Pakistan.
“The world has seen and acknowledged,” he said, drawing a parallel to the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011. “It is India’s deepest ever cross-border strike – carefully, precisely calibrated to cause no damage except to the terrorist.”
Calling the response to the Pahalgam attack a “befitting retaliation,” Dhankhar praised the government for what he termed a new benchmark in counterterrorism. “When coffins are taken with armed forces and political power accompanying them, justice is done by Bharat to Sindoor in sublimity.”
The speech, delivered before an audience of graduating students, also touched on India’s civilisational identity. “We are a nation with 5,000 years of civilisational ethos,” he said. “We need to bridge, not breach, the divide between East and West.”
Dhankhar also issued a strong warning against allowing anti-national narratives to take root, especially in educational spaces. “Foreign universities coming to this country require filtration,” he cautioned. “We must be extremely careful.”
Criticising the commodification of education and healthcare, he called on corporate leaders to prioritise research funding under CSR obligations. “Education and health are not to make money. These are areas to give back to society,” he said. “If we wait for others to develop technology, we are handicapped from the beginning.”
Also in attendance were Sharad Jaipuria, Chairman of the Board of Governors at the institute, his spouse Anjali Jaipuria, and Vice Chairman Shreevats Jaipuria.
