Neighbour’s design to destabilise India through terror will not be tolerated : Naidu

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : A day after the ghastly terror attack on a CRPF convoy in Jammu & Kashmir, the Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu has asserted that the efforts of the neighbouring country to destabilise India can no longer be tolerated. He said, “It is unfortunate that our neighbour has been aiding, abetting, funding and training terrorist groups. This attempt to destabilise and impede out progress can no longer be tolerated. We must stand united in our resolve to make every inch of our motherland a safer place.”

At the release of the book “Selected Speeches” of Vice President Naidu by the former President Pranab Mukherjee, hundreds of participants mourned the loss of lives of CRPF soldiers in the Pulwama terror attack by observing silence.

Speaking on the occasion, Naidu spoke at length on the issues confronting the country and various institutions and the need for a united effort to build a good future for the people based on the past and effectively handling the complexities of the present.

Naidu said, “Nationalism is all about asserting that ‘I am Indian first’. It is an overarching umbrella under which all our immediate identities are subsumed to form a larger collective. Unfortunately, certain misinformed individuals and organisations are fomenting trouble, and creating divisions where none existed before.” Nationalism implies sharing a common past, a common present, and a common future and in our country that has shown the power of peaceful coexistence and non-violence to the world, the acts of bigotry and narrow sectarianism should be strongly condemned.

Referring to the polls soon to be held for Lok Sabha and some State Assemblies, Naidu said, “I would like to see more men and women being elected as legislators and parliamentarians with national outlook and having in them the four virtues of Character, Calibre, Capacity and Conduct not allowing the political system to be vitiated by Cash, Caste, Community and Criminality.”  He urged the people to demand a report card from the public representatives and make a critical assessment of their effectiveness at the time of voting in the elections, according to a PIB release.

Conveying anguish over chronic disruptions in legislatures, Naidu stated, “Dysfunctional legislatures strengthen the demand for ‘recall of legislators’. I am afraid we are close to this stage if things do not change”. Stating that our legislatures instead of becoming effective forums of debate, are being reduced to ‘disruptive platforms’, Naidu said, “Against the backdrop of worrisome functioning of our Parliament and State Legislatures, this disruptive, dysfunctional tendency needs to be made an election issue.”

Referring to Judiciary, the Vice President said it is disturbing to note the heavy pendency of cases and 67% of prisoners being undertrials. He urged the Judiciary to play a constructive role in overcoming the formidable challenges to socio-economic development of the country and added the public trust in Judiciary should not be allowed to be eroded.