During his first visit to Bengaluru on Sunday after being elected to the coveted post of Vice-President, M Venkaiah Naidu called the Rajya Sabha a federal chamber of Parliament. He was sharing his thoughts over a felicitation event orgaisied offered by people of Bengaluru.
He said, “The Rajya Sabha is the federal chamber of our Parliament with a specific mandate of protecting the interests of the States. I deem it as an honour that I have got the opportunity of presiding such a Council of States as its Chairperson. I feel happy that I am the second person from the State after late Shri BD Jatti to have got such an Opportunity, with deep connections with the soil of Karnataka”.
“As a firm believer in equal partnership of the States and the Union in the progress of our country, I have started the process of visiting States for knowing their problems in the implementation of schemes when I was the Rural Development Minister. I continued this over the last three years as a Union Minister”, he added.
He said he am humble in accepting the post of Vice-President and will accept the responsibility with humility. He said, “The last couple of weeks have seen the full play of the strength and majesty of parliamentary democratic polity. Two humble sons of our country have been chosen to the two highest constitutional posts in our country i.e. President and Vice-President. This is something that these two commoners never even aspired for or nor even expected. I bow my head in great respect to the character and the strength of our system and with all humility accept the honour and responsibility bestowed on me”.
“Soon after I was announced as vice-presidential candidate, my first thought and decision was that I should first visit Karnataka soon after my election and so am I here with you all. I owe a lot to the people of Karnataka for choosing me as one of their representatives in the Council of States for 18 long years in a row. I am here today on the soil of Karnataka to sincerely thank the people of the State for taking me very warmly in their lap for such a long time” he added.
He also said, “This in my view is an eloquent testimony to the principle that “India belongs to all of its citizens”. Irrespective of your place of birth, you have as much responsibility and stake and a window to further the cause of the nation”.
Venkaiah also spoke about the relevance of federalism and its matured unitary mechanism. He said, “Despite some occasional aberrations in the working of this script, this unique unitary-federal mechanism has certainly matured over the years with frictions between the centre and the states steadily declining. This is happening with steady consolidation and manifestation of the spirit of cooperative federalism”.
“With the rise of Young and Aspirational India and the elected political executive becoming more and more sensitive to the compelling need of empowering citizens to fulfill their aspirations, an element of completion among the States is now more and more evident. This is resulting in ‘competitive and cooperative federalism’, he added.
Venkaiah known for his one liner in his own way defined India and called it Integrated National Development Impacting All citizens equally . “It is a huge mass of human kind with a rich legacy of morals, values, diverse cultures and vast human and natural resources bound by a common heritage and united by a shared destiny. It belongs to all of its citizens irrespective of their place of birth, caste, creed, religion and Status: , he added.
“ In my new innings, I am supposed to speak less and make others speak in an orderly manner. So, it would not be appropriate for me to speak at length” he added in the end.