Venkaiah Naidu sees ‘some isolated incidents’ of intolerance

Parliamentary affairs minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said there was “some amount” of intolerance in the society which has to be identified and dealt with firmly, instead of generalising it. While Mr Naidu did not refer to any particular incident, he said people making out-of-turn statements should be condemned, isolated and disowned.

Taking a jibe at the Opposition, Mr Naidu said one of the biggest examples of tolerance would be “to be tolerant to the verdict of the people’’. However, he cited the example of the recent Bihar elections saying, “The people’s mandate is with Nitish Kumar and we must respect it.” He added, “If there is respect for Bihar, there has to be respect for Delhi also,” in an apparent reference to the mandate enjoyed by the Modi government after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Participating in the debate on the commitment to India’s Constitution as part of the 125th birth anniversary celebrations of Dr B.R. Ambedkar, Mr Naidu pitched for Uniform Civil Code even as he said there should be guidelines on banning books and so on. “Dr Ambedkar wanted to have uniformity of law, civil as well as criminal... After so many years of experience, have we done justice and moved in that direction Is there uniformity of civil law ” he said.

He asked whether it was possible to “talk about, accept and work out the modalities of common law with regard to marriage, inheritance, divorce and maintenance” which does not favour a particular law. Mr Naidu said despite being a BJP member himself , he does not believe in vaastu and jyotish shastra, adding that “tolerance is the key”.

The founding fathers of the Constitution, he said, wanted to respect the constitutional institutions — Parliament, judiciary and others. “How far have we strengthened them Keeping the unity and integrity of our country and its democratic socialist and secular character — to what extent we have achieved it ” he said.

Maintaining that he was expressing his views more as an MP than a minister, Mr Naidu said for Dr Ambedkar, caste was “anti-national.” “Are we doing justice to this Are we not basing some of our politics on the basis of caste, some of our politics on the basis of religion, some of the politics on the basis of region ” he said.

This is one issue which everyone has to ponder over,” he said. He said the members ocul also discuss the issue of salaries for MPs , problems plaguing the judiciary especially in the selection of judges.

He also raised the issue of gender equality, saying “a woman is a woman. She may be a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian or of some other religion, but a woman is a woman. Is there gender equality ”

Talking about the reservation for women in Parliament, Naidu quipped that members may have agreed to it, but it has still not become a reality. “Some members tell me privately, you want us to sign our death warrant ” said Naidu asking all members to rise about personal gains and considerations and work for the betterment of the country and its people.