Respect women for progress, President Pranab Mukherjee says

KIRNAHAR: Ahead of worshipping Durga at his ancestral home in Birbhum's Miriti, President Pranab Mukherjee called for a strict discipline in the society to check crimes against women.
While attending a programme at the Kirnahar Shibchandra High School, where he studied up to the secondary level, a teacher asked the President about the rise in crimes against women."Sir, we are worshipping Durga, the symbol of woman power, but on the other hand the modesty of women is being outraged everyday. What is your observation?"
Mukherjee replied: "It's a matter of shame for the society. We have to keep up the respect for women. A society is not at all a normal one where the women are tortured. We need strict discipline. A society, where women are respected, can only progress."
The school authorities have set up a museum on the school premises where different mementoes on the political life of Mukherjee are on display.
Another teacher, Mitali Kaybarta, asked, "Sir, how do you feel while performing the 'Chandipath'?" Mukherjee said: "You should chant it and feel it. The Chandi, Bhagavad Gita, Quran, Bible and Tripitaka, all give you mental strength."
The President spent more than an hour in the school. A teacher of the school, Arun Roy, said: "Last year, we had asked him to make an arrangement for a visit to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Today, he told us to visit Rashtrapati Bhavan, not as outsiders, but as the guest of an ex-student of the school."
The President reached Kirnahar on Thursday afternoon. At a makeshift helipad, he was greeted by the fisheries minister Chandranath Sinha and DM of Birbhum J P Meena. Mukherjee, who will stay here for four days, will attend a number of programmes, including the Durga Puja celebrations at Mirati. Mukherjee was accompanied by his wife Subhra.
On Thursday, he visited the house of his elder sister Annapurna Mukherjee at Kirnahar. After the Saptami Puja on Friday, he would visit the Visva Bharati. Mukherjee is the visitor of the university. He would be present in a cultural programme organized in the Lipika auditorium and talk with the teachers and officials of the university.
Before worshipping the idol Durga the President , Pranab Mukherjee had to face an odd question about the security of women. He attended a programme at Kirnahar Shibchandra High School where he had studied up to secondary level. The school authority had set up a museum where in different mementos related to the long political life of Pranab Mukherjee would be exhibited. In that programme during informal discussion a male teacher asked the President how befitting was the worship of Durga while frequent incident of crime against women had been committed.
After entering the school compound the President visibly became emotional. He had spent around one hour and ten minutes though the time allotted was hardly forty five minutes. Last year we had requested him to make an arrangement to visit Rastrapati Bhawan. "Today he told us to come to Rastrapati Bhawan not as outsiders but as the guest of an ex-student of the school," a teacher said.