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There shouldn’t be animosity between govt and oppn: Kovind
President urges public representatives to work for all people, irrespective of any considerations, whether they had voted for them or not
LUCKNOW President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday said there can be differences of ideology between the ruling party and the opposition, but there should not be any animosity between both the sides.
“The Uttar Pradesh legislature has had a glorious history of dignified amicability between the treasury benches and the opposition. If some undignified incidents have happened, you should forget them as an exception…In a democracy, there can be differences of ideology between the ruling party and the opposition, but there should not be any animosity between both the sides,” he said while addressing the joint sitting of two houses of the state legislature convened to mark celebrations of 75 years of India’s independence (Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav), in the state legislative assembly hall here.
The President called upon public representatives of both the houses of the state legislature to work for all the people, irrespective of any considerations, whether they had voted for them or not.
“The legislature is the temple of democracy and people consider public representatives as their ‘bhagya vidhata’ (one who decides the destiny). They have to prove true to the expectations of people and work for all, irrespective of any consideration whether they have voted for you or not,” said the President.
Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Speaker of the state legislative assembly Satish Mahana, chairman of state legislative council Kunwar Manvendra Singh and leader of opposition in the state assembly Akhilesh Yadav were present on the occasion.
The President said lectures in memory of freedom fighters should be organized to make people aware about their contribution.
Kovind also referred to nine Prime Ministers who represented the state in Lok Sabha, including first Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and the first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi adopted Kashi as his home city and gave new dimensions to the development of Uttar Pradesh and India.”
The President referred to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to his (Kovind’s) native village Paraunkh last week and exuded confidence that chief minister Yogi Adityanath would be able to achieve the objective making UP a trillion-dollar economy.
“My every visit to the state provides me an opportunity to connect with my place of birth. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited my native village Paraunkh in Kanpur Dehat. He offered floral tributes to the statue of Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar and addressed people in my village. This programme will always remain etched in the memory of people of my village. I felt a new enthusiasm among the entrepreneurs while addressing the chambers in Kanpur on June 4. I am sure chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s objective of making the state a trillion-dollar economy will certainly be achieved,” stated Kovind.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath have given administrative stability and this has given a confidence that UP will set a record of economic progress in near future,” he added.
“If we speak about total population of Europe’s three big democracies- Germany, France and UK – the population of Uttar Pradesh is equivalent to the population of these three countries put together. UP’s social, cultural, economic and geographical diversity gives strength to the democracy,” said Kovind.
The President also referred to his visit to Gorakhpur and Varanasi, saying: “I felt happy to see the magnificence of the corridor and having ‘darshan’ at the Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi. It feels happy that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister have done away with the unclean by-lanes therein that made Mahatma Gandhi unhappy during his visit there in 1916.”
About the representation of women in the state legislature, he said: “I have been told that the number of women members is 47 in the state assembly. This is only 12% of the total strength of the state assembly. But we should not be satisfied with this. In Vidhan Parishad, the number of women members is five. This is 5.5% of the state legislative council’s strength of 91 members.”
