The President’s Address is
the vision of the Government. It reflects the intention of the
Government. India has a unique Parliamentary democracy. Today, queens
do not give birth to kings; kings are born of ballot boxes. We are proud that
our democracy is continuously gaining strength for the last sixty-seven years
and we also want to establish more robust democracy in the coming years. The
present mandate is unique and has to be respected by all. While Shri Narendra
Modi was pledging to remove poverty, corruption and unemployment, you were
striving not to let him come to power. Shrimati Indira Gandhi won the election
of 1971 on the slogan of ‘Gareebi Hatao’. When the disenchanted people try to
elect someone else, you always term him as secular or communal. Have you
forgotten the emergency era, the Hindu-Sikh riots, and communal (140)
riots of Bhagalpur and the recent Muzaffarnagar riots? How long will
you rant the Godhara incident which took place 12 years ago? (160) Why
are you trying to put a spoke in the moving wheel of the chariot of time? If
the hon. Prime Minister of India says that we will not tolerate any
riot or crime, then you must have faith in his statement. The Address
speaks of eradicating poverty instead of alleviation of poverty. There are no
two opinions that India is divided into haves and have-nots. Today,
the condition of the poor is worse. They do not get proper food or medicines.
When the hon. President says ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’, he means that
we are Indians first. When we say we are Indians, it means that the national
interest is supreme. The party or individual interest (280)
can be taken care of later. Our education system needs total revamping for the
purpose of putting in place a uniform education system for all. It is the Puna
Pact through which the dalits got various rights as well as reservation. (320)
I thank the government led by
Shri Narsimha Rao for making provision of reservation in promotion. There was the
UPA Government for the last ten years but it failed to pass a single
Constitutional Amendment for providing reservation in promotions. Today, the
existing reservation policy is being governed by a Government Order.
We have repeatedly demanded to convert this Government Order into an Act and
hope that the new Government will do this. As far as the minorities are
concerned, the Government is committed to bring them into the mainstream and to
have zero tolerance for riots. Here people talk (420) about
majority and minority. When the people of the country are marching in one
direction, why are some people talking about Hindus or Muslims? Are all the
people of upper castes or lower castes or backwards or dalits who voted for the
government, communal? All political parties are in favour of women’s
reservation but it has not seen the (480) light
of the day. It is the Government of Narendra Modi which has given maximum
representation to women in the Cabinet since Independence. Hon’ble
President has said, “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao”. He also promised to give 33%
reservation to women. Is there any objection to these issues? Why these should
not be supported? The younger generation has peculiar hopes and aspirations. Its
mindset transcends the barriers of caste, creed or religion. It is not
prejudiced. We demand that a(560) Commission for youth be
constituted. The Government has set forth the concept of linking of rivers. The
country is facing floods on one hand and drought conditions on the other.
Once the work of linking of rivers is completed, no field will remain
unirrigated and India will not be dependent on others. We will
implement One Rank One Pension scheme. The Government of India provides
subsidized ration to the poor. First, it was given through Antyodaya Programme,
then BPL and (640) now Food Security Act is in
place. In spite of all these efforts, the poor are not able to get rations. The
supply of ration in Bihar is 4 lakh tonnes against the demand of 23
lakh tonnes. We are committed to provide ration to the poor and the cooperation
of the State Governments is very important for this purpose. (700)
Many Governments are doing remarkable work in this regard. The Government of
Tamil Nadu is distributing free ration and Chhattisgarh has excellent
distribution system. The sugarcane growers in Uttar Pradesh are in
distress. It is also said that we will maintain peace with our
neighbouring countries. We are a big country and will play the role of an elder
brother. We will try to pick up the thread from where Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee left
it. Who does not want to see a powerful Prime Minister at the Centre? We are
powerful only when our country is powerful. There is no (800) dearth
of policy in the country but of intention. Our policies are clear and intention
is clear; so, we will succeed.
This is the first time since the last
three decades that people of the country have given a clear(840)
majority for a single party. I congratulate the hon. Prime Minister for that
and my best wishes to the new Government. The President appreciated the people
for having voted for stability, honesty and development, where corruption has
no place. I had raised the issue of 2G spectrum scam many times in 2009, that
is in the 15th Lok Sabha. The people of Tamil Nadu have punished the
perpetrators of 2G Scam in May 2011 elections. You may call it any wave.
According to me, the only wave is anti-corruption wave. So many VIPs, former
Ministers from Tamil Nadu and former Chief Minister’s family members were
involved in corruption but no action has so far been taken against them.(960) People
have given their verdict and we hope that the new Government
will take a serious action against the culprits(980) and they
would be punished. The President talks about poverty elimination in paragraph 7
of his Address. The Supreme Court gave a judgement that the stock of foodgrains
which is lying in the go-downs is completely rotten and rats are eating it. The
Government should distribute it to the people free of cost. But they did not do
that. In Tamil Nadu, our leader Jayalalithaji gave foodgrains free of cost. If
you are charging Rs. 3, it is not food security. The Government is having
plenty of stocks. As regards marriage assistance, our leader is implementing a
scheme under which four grams of gold and up to Rs.50000 are given for marriage
expenses. So, this is a role model which we should follow. So many models
of development are being quoted here. I would request you to take Tamil Nadu as
a model. (1120) Our hon. Chief Minister is the
pioneer in implementing all such welfare schemes. A corruption-free Government
is running in the State of Tamil Nadu. The Congress Government failed to
take action in this matter and thus they lost the elections.
The Minimum Support
Price for agricultural produce has to be increased. From ancient times
agriculture has been our mainstay. If you fail to accord primacy to agriculture,
definitely our country is going to face a lot of problems. I would, therefore,
like to congratulate the hon. President for having mentioned about
the agriculture sector. Since our economy is dependent on agriculture, how can
we have farming without inter-linking (1260) of rivers? The
Government should allocate more funds for modernization of the police force. We
have to give top priority (1280) to the
modernization of police. The Government should also try and recruit more
intelligent people, service-oriented people and committed people in the police
force by giving higher salary to them. We are talking only about the pollution
of the river Ganges. All the rivers of the country are polluted.
Therefore, do not think that the Ganga is the only river to be
cleaned. Our forefathers preserved all the rivers so that we will be able to
get good drinking water. The Government should draw a master plan and
see that any sort of materials causing pollution must not go to the rivers. You
must give priority from the beginning itself and see that the Central
Government sanctions sufficient funds. State Governments have no(1400)
power to impose any tax. They are at the mercy of the Central Government. All
states are coming to the Centre with begging bowls. The only solution to solve
the problem of drinking water is to link all the rivers. (1440) The
Government of Tamil Nadu has been urging the Government of India to implement
the inter-linking of rivers. The Supreme Court has directed the Ministry of
Water Resources of the Government of India to constitute a special Committee
for the implementation of inter-linking of rivers. I would request the Central
Government to take this issue seriously. I am sorry to say
that during the last 20 years, the Centre was not at all respecting the
federal character of the country. States were not given sufficient power and
allocation of resources. Stronger States will only lead to a stronger nation.
Let education once again go back to the State List and let it not remain under
the Concurrent List. Why is only one particular language recognized as
the national language of this country? You have to give respect to
all the languages of the country. Whoever has hoarded black money in other
countries must be brought to book immediately. I am requesting the (1600) Central
Government to be liberal to the States and give more powers to the State
Governments.
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