In his first visit to Tamil Nadu after assuming office, Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday called for unity against various social evils such as corruption, casteism, communalism, terrorism, illiteracy, black money and gender discrimination.
Delivering a speech at a function organised on the occasion of 75 years of the Quit India Movement, Mr. Naidu referred to the “mindless violence” in some parts of the country recently and said: “If there is tension, there cannot be attention towards development. Tension should not be allowed at all.”
Speaking on the topic ‘New India – We Resolve to Make’, the Vice-President spoke against untouchability and atrocities against women “here and there”. He hailed the judgement on triple talaq as historic. Mr. Naidu also inaugurated an exhibition organised by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Anna University in Chennai.
Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao, Union Minister Ananth Kumar, State Ministers D. Jayakumar and K.P. Anbalagan and senior officials were present on the occassion.
“The country must stand against terrorism. Terror is terror, it has no colour; it has no religion,” Mr. Naidu said, and further called upon political parties to forget their differences and stand united for the sake of development.
Reiterating his stand against the disruption of democratic spaces, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha said, “What is happening across the country, in various Assemblies, Legislative Councils and in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha is really worrisome; it is disturbing.”
The Vice-President, who won applause for commencing his speech in Tamil, carried on with his usual style of speech, filled with rhyming words. He spoke about his special bond with Tamil Nadu and recalled his friendship with former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
Open session
At an open session with students from various institutions at Anna University, he answered a number of questions on topics ranging from agriculture and budgetary allocation on research to reservation in the educational system. When a student asked why the budgetary allocation for research was quite low, the Vice-President quipped that he was not part of the government anymore.
When a student of Madras Institute of Technology, Divya Bharathi, asked for his comments about a common syllabus across the country, the Vice-President said he was for it with a regional flavour wherever required.