India's strength lies in capacity to blend contradiction: President

JERUSALEM: With Israeli leaders marvelling at India's unique model of multi-culturalism, President Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday emphasised that diversity is an integrating factor and India's strength lies in its capacity to blend contradiction into positive affirmations.

Describing "diversity as an integrating factor" and "unity in diversity" as a core value, Mukherjee told the audience in the Hebrew University, where he was conferred an honourary doctorate, that "India is a country held together by strong invisible threads....the elusive quality".

Earlier, almost every senior leader in Israel, including President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Leader of the Opposition Isaac Herzog appreciated India's achievement in keeping such a diverse population together.

Herzog in his speech at the Knesset, Israel's parliament, said that Israel should learn from India how it has maintained co-existence in the presence of so many minority groups, especially Muslims, who are represented in every walk of life.

In closed-door meetings, Mukherjee is said to have emphasised on the principle of "live and let live" and suggested managing differences through debates, discussions and openness to dissensions, a spokesman for the government of India said.