Certain incidents happening during Governors’ address should be avoided: Vice President Naidu

PTI, Mar 4, 2022, 4:00 PM IST

Certain incidents happening during Governors’ address and violence taking place in certain institutions should be completely avoided as such things will weaken democracy and leave people disillusioned, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said on Friday. In democracy, if you don’t like the government, you can agitate peacefully with patience and wait for election, he said while urging political parties to respect people’s mandate and avoid violence. His statements come a day after Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari left the Vidhan Bhavan’s Central Hall in Mumbai without completing his address to the joint session of both the Houses of the state legislature amid slogan-shouting by legislators.

On Wednesday, Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat also had to cut short his customary address to the state Legislative Assembly on the first day of the budget session after Congress MLAs caused disruption by raising anti-BJP slogans over various issues.

”We see certain incidents happening in Parliament – both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. There are certain things happening under various legislatures. Certain incidents are happening during the Governors’ address and also the violence that is taking place in certain institutions, this should be totally avoided because it will weaken democracy…people will get disillusioned,” Naidu said.

He was addressing a gathering after inaugurating Durbar Hall at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of state Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai, Union minister Shripad Naik, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and others.

Parliament is supreme and we should respect all these institutions, he added.

”In democracy, if you don’t like the address, you can criticize after the address is over. If you don’t like budget, you can criticise it. If you don’t like government you should have patience, you can educate and agitate peacefully and wait for election. You must have patience to respect the mandate of the people,” Naidu said.

”This should be borne in mind by all political parties. Violence, physical violence should be totally avoided,” he added. The vice president also said that amid the expansionist ideas and violence created by conflicts in the world, India must dedicate itself to universal peace as it is a prerequisite for progress.

”We are seeing what is happening around the globe. These expansionist ideas and violence created by conflicts that are occurring around the globe and the misery happening with the people of that region, we must dedicate ourselves to the universal peace because peace is a prerequisite for progress,” he said.

”We are all proud of our civilization. India was once the ‘vishwa guru’ (mentor of world) for all its resources. We never attacked any other country because we don’t believe in expansionism. We believe in all inclusiveness. World is one family…share and care…Everybody must remember this,” Naidu added. After the Independence, India has to its credit a number of achievements. But we also have great challenges like poverty, disparity and social discrimination in certain areas and gender discrimination in certain areas, he said. ”We must seriously understand, introspect and work towards eradicating these challenges in bridging urban rural divide and uplifting poorest of the poor. Empowering women and totally eradicating gender violence. Whichever party it is, all people should focus and give importance to these aspects,” he said.

Everyone should see to it that dignity, standards, morals and ethics are maintained in public life, he added.