Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday urged Parliamentarians and legislators to maintain quality and healthy debates in the Houses. With Parliament often witnessing disruptions over a variety of issues, Modi said conduct of lawmakers should be in line with Indian values. Traditions and systems of the Houses of our legislatures should be inherently Indian, he said, pitching for policies and laws to strengthen the sentiment of ‘Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat’, he said.
Addressing the inaugural session of the 82nd All India Presiding Officers’ Conference in Shimla virtually from Delhi, he also called for collective efforts, including from States, to take the country to new heights of progress and cited the fight against Covid-19 as a “historic” example of ‘sabka prayas’ (everyone’s effort). The Prime Minister also pushed the idea of having a separate time for quality and healthy debates in legislatures which should be serious, dignified and devoid of political potshots at others. In a way, it should be a “healthy time” for House, he said. The Prime Minister also said that democracy is not merely a system for India but it is its nature.
He emphasised the need for everyone from parliamentarians to the common man to give primacy to their duties, saying this is the mantra to speed up India’s development by many times from the pace it has grown since Independence.
“Next 25 years are very important for India. During this, can we with full strength, dedication and response execute one mantra? In my view, that mantra is duty, duty and duty,” he said. Modi also asserted that it is our legislatures’ responsibility to be vigilant about any discordant voice about the country’s unity and integrity. It is our unity that preserves our diversity, he added.
Noting that lawmakers are associated mostly with politics, Modi proposed whether a few days in a year can be demarcated in legislatures for them to do something special for the society, tell the country about this aspect of their social life as well. He also gave the idea of ‘One Nation One Legislative Platform’, a portal that not only gives the necessary technological boost to our parliamentary system, but also works to connect all the democratic units of the country.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha, Harivansh, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Jairam Thakur, Speaker of Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Vipin Singh Parmar also spoke in the conference. Birla said that the objective of the legislative institutions is to ensure active participation of the people and their representatives towards making progressive legislations so that positive socio-economic changes can be brought to the lives of the people.