Stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “changed the vocabulary of the public discourse”, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Venkaiah Naidu on Thursday said that the Government will not deviate from its agenda of development despite negative media “headlines” or actions of “fringe elements”.
“The PM has changed the vocabulary of public discourse. It is development alone. All the other things which you find in newspapers, they try to make it only headlines, thinking that they can give a deadline to us, but we don’t deviate from our line of development,” Naidu said while addressing an event here.
The Minister said the Government does not believe in the ideology of “fringe elements” which are creating problems “here and there”.
“That is not the policy of the Government and the country does not agree with those guys...Our focus is on development and good governance,” he said. The Minister was addressing a Workshop on Smart Cities and Informed Urbanisation here.
Naidu’s comments followed a day after BJP president Amit Shah said that action is being taken against cow vigilantes. “Everyone has to abide by the law. Cases have been registered and arrests made wherever such incidents have happened,” Shah said.
The PM had also on April 23 impressed upon all Chief Ministers to take care of students from Jammu & Kashmir in their respective States, in view of some recent untoward incidents against them in the backdrop of violence by stone pelters against security personnel.
Naidu said the Government has approved over Rs 2.85 lakh crore of investment for urban development and housing schemes over the last two years.
On smart cities, he said the word Smart stands for Sustainability, Managing with citizen participation, Area-based development, Resilience to climate change and Technology solution.
He said the country has seen a rapid urbanisation in the last two decades. “Urbanisation is very rapid. Whether you like it or not, it has become inevitable and then non-stoppable.”
The Minister said five Es are deriving people to urban areas. These, he said, are “education, employment, entertainment, economic activity and enhanced medical facilities”.
In a lighter vein, he said. “ Even I have migrated from rural development to Urban Development Ministry.” The Minister expressed confidence of meeting the target of Housing for all by 2022.