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Former V-P Venkaiah Naidu defends simultaneous polls, renaming India as Bharat
Venkaiah Naidu also advocated the need for enactment of a legislation to provide 33% reservation for women at the earliest and also the passage of the Uniform Civil Code bill for the unity and integrity of the nation
Former vice-president of India M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday defended the ‘One Nation- One Election proposal of the central government and also extended support to the idea of renaming India as Bharat. He, however, said both the decisions should be implemented after a thorough discussion and debate in Parliament and evolving a consensus among all the political parties.
Speaking to reporters in Hyderabad, Naidu said India being the world’s largest democracy needed simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies and with some gap, even for local bodies. “It would avoid unwarranted expenditure on the conduct of frequent elections in one corner of the country or the other, shifting of officials, deployment of police forces and movement of election material from one state to another,” he said.
The former vice-president said India had witnessed simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies till 1967, but the process got derailed in 1971 due to dissolution of some state assemblies, leading to mid-term elections.
“Since then, there has been a debate across the country over restoration of simultaneous elections all over the country. The concept of ‘One Nation-One Election’ was endorsed by the Parliamentary Standing Committees and Law Commission of India and it was supported even by the Election Commission of India,” he said, adding that even the general public would welcome such a proposal.
Naidu said the frequent elections would hamper the progress of the nation and lead to rampant corruption. “With elections in one state or the other regularly, politicians can’t focus on developmental issues but only on populist measures to appease voters,” he said.
Admitting that there are several genuine apprehensions among the political parties over the simultaneous elections across the country, the former vice-president said all such issues could be resolved through meaningful discussions in Parliament.
“We may have to make certain legislations such as amending the anti-defection law and Article 356 to bring in a comprehensive legislation on ‘One Nation-One Election’,” he said.
On the issue of renaming India as Bharat, Naidu said the Constitution had the provision for both the words and they were interchangeable. “In fact, both India and Bharat were incorporated in the Constitution after a thorough debate in the Constituent Assembly,” he said.
Stating that the country had been referred to as Bharat from time immemorial, the former vice-president said the word reflected India’s culture and history. “Even our ancient scriptures referred to the nation as Bharat, not India which was coined by the foreigners,” he said.
He said the word Bharat would not affect the secular fabric of the nation. “It has nothing to do with secularism. It is not correct to link it to religion,” he said.
Naidu also advocated the need for enactment of a legislation to provide 33% reservation for women at the earliest and also the passage of theUniform Civil Code bill for the unity and integrity of the nation.
