Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Saturday called for an introspection about co-existence exemplified by ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’ during the time of COVID. “Introspect about our philosophical roots during COVID pandemic. Let’s reset our minds. India needs consensus because of the diversity,” said Mr. Naidu while speaking at the third Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture organised by a think tank.
Memories
The Vice President shared his memories about Vajpayee when he helped organise public meetings for him in Nellore.
“Vajpayee is the father of coalition practices. He held power for 13 days, then 13 months and then for a full term. The coalition had 23 parties,” said Mr. Naidu, who saw the inner workings of the Vajpayee government as Minister for Rural Development.
Identifying the economic reforms during Mr. Vajpayee’s regime, Mr. Naidu said, “P.V. Narasimha Rao initiated the economic reforms but it was Mr. Vajpayee who pushed them through along with infrastructure projects like Golden Quadrilateral, electrification and PM Gram Sadak Yojana. He created Ministry of Disinvestment and brought in laws to bring in fiscal discipline.”
Consensus building
Mr. Vajpayee’s parliamentary career was a lesson in consensus building with shared democratic values, Mr. Naidu said. “We need to raise the level of debates and speeches in Parliament. Avoid unruly behaviour. Disturbance gets prominence in the media. Unruly behaviour, destructive and obstructive things are reported. The smoothly functioning part goes unnoticed. You are destroying the health of the nation,” said Mr. Naidu during the course of the 50-minute lecture.
He went on to add that people should elect their representatives on the basis of character, calibre, capacity and conduct and not caste, community, cash and criminality.
