Call for discipline is now branded autocratic: Modi

NEWDELHI:The situation in India is such that one who calls for discipline is termed an autocrat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

At the launch of a book by vicepresident Venkaiah Naidu on his first year as the Rajya Sabha chairman, PM Modi praised him for being a “disciplinarian”, and said that recent disruptions in the Upper House enabled Naidu display his administrative expertise.

“Naidu is a disciplinarian, but the situation in the country is such that it has become easy to call discipline undemocratic. If someone even tries to be a disciplinarian, he has to face the music. He is called an autocrat and they open the dictionary,” he said after unveiling the 245-page book, ‘Moving On... Moving Forward: A Year In Office’.

In Parliament’s monsoon session, a section of the Opposition had planned protests against Naidu over the way he conducted proceedings.

The move eventually fizzled out last month.

Former prime ministers Manmohan Singh and HD Deve Gowda, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and senior Congress leader Anand Sharma were also present at the launch.

Singh said that while Naidu had performed admirably in every capacity, the “best is yet to come”.

“He brings to the office of the vice-president, political and administrative experience and that is amply reflected in his one year in office. But the best is yet to come. As a poet has said, ‘Sitaron ke aage jahan aur bhi hain, abhi ishq ke imtehaan aur bhi hain,’” Singh said.

Addressing the gathering, Naidu suggested a code of conduct for both MPs and MLAs, within and outside Parliament and state assemblies, for effective functioning and restoring people’s confidence in these institutions.

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If someone tries to be a disciplinarian, he has to face the music. He is called an autocrat and they open the dictionary. NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister

Naidu pitched measures such as quick decisions on anti-defection cases and criminal cases against politicians, and a national policy on the need for the Upper House in state legislatures. He also urged parties to overcome political differences on issues of national importance. “While there is cause for a great deal of celebration in the way Indian economy is shaping up and how India’s standing in the comity of nations has been steadily going up, I am a little unhappy that our Parliament is not functioning as it should,” Naidu said.