Gaya/Patna, Feb. 15: While Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray managed to “shake” the social fabric of the country, President Pratibha Patil offered the balm of harmony.

On her maiden two-day visit to Bihar today, the President visited Bodh Gaya, where she described harmony “as a factor that sets India apart from other nations in the world”. The President inaugurated a cultural festival (Tarang) at Magadh University in Gaya.

“Just as we harmonise notes to produce a tune, the diversity of our people, customs, traditions and languages unify to make the one great nation that is India. We must preserve our identity of a multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-lingual nation that lives in harmony,” she said.

The President also requested people to not adopt “divisive ideologies or narrow identities”, as India is a cohesive unit and belongs to all its billion-and-more people.

Patil expressed her happiness for being in Bihar, which she described as a state that boasted of a rich past. The President reached Bodh Gaya in the afternoon and visited the Maha Bodhi Temple there.

Raj Bhavan’s public relations officer Rajendra Choudhary explained the President’s itinerary to The Telegraph and said: “The President inaugurated a cultural function, Tarang, at Magadh University. She reached Patna in the evening and would be staying in the Raj Bhavan.”

Patna police has deployed forces around the governor’s house and has diverted traffic from Bailey Road. Minibuses and auto-rickshaws would be diverted from Income-Tax roundabout to Bailey Road near Hartali Chowk.

The President is expected to visit the holy shrine Takht Saheb in Patna and visit Vaishali tomorrow in the morning. She would later open two key schemes — Kanya Suraksha Yojana and Mukhyamantri Kanyadan Yojana — to be launched by the government. She would return to New Delhi tomorrow evening. Tarang, the five-day inter-university cultural extravaganza, is the brainchild of the Raj Bhavan’s officer of special duty, Krishna Kumar.

The cultural carnival was inaugurated by the President in the university stadium in the afternoon. About 500 college boys and girls are participating in the event.

Speaking on the occasion, chief minister Nitish Kumar concurred deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi’s observation that Tarang was unique in all respects among other festivals in the state and in the country.