Bengaluru, (DHNS): Google can never replace the Guru, said the Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu at the 20th annual convocation of the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

A total of 26,469 students graduated on Thursday and 84 students of undergraduate, postgraduate, and PhD programmes were awarded gold medals at the ceremony held in the Nimhans Convention Centre here.

Naidu surprised the gathering by delivering the first few lines of the convocation address in Kannada. Switching to English, Naidu said, "I can't speak in your beautiful Kannada but I can understand it. When I was young, our elders used to say 'Kannada Kasturi'.

Naidu then said that while taking pride in regional identity, citizens should have 'desh bhakti', stay united as one country and should be proud of its diversity.

"Mother tongue is like your eyes and other languages are like spectacles. I have no problem with English but one should not forget one's mother tongue," he added.

Naidu also told students that if they leave the country, they should learn, earn, and return to the country. "This country has given you so much. Enjoyment is when you enjoy with family," he said.

Naidu urged students to serve in rural areas, too.

"I have told the health minister to make rural service mandatory for a doctor to get their first promotion. We cannot have two Indias, with the cities having state-of-the-art facilities and rural areas lagging behind," Naidu said.

He stressed the importance of empathy and compassion, quoting from the Charaka Samhita. "The healing touch goes beyond medical knowledge. My wife was unwell, so we went to many doctors, but nothing helped. Finally, we met a doctor in Mumbai who spoke very kindly and patiently listened to her. When we came out, my wife said that half her illness was already cured," Naidu said.

At the end of the ceremony, Naidu posed for a photograph with all the awardees.