Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday told the Rajya Sabha that cooperative federalism was the way forward to ensure uniform development of the country.
Speaking in the Upper House for the first time, Modi was replying to the debate on the President Pranab Mukherjee's address to both Houses of Parliament in a joint sitting. At the outset, he set out to demolish questions being raised by the BJP's rivals. "Questions are being raised how will you do, when will it happen. This is due to the pessimism that has set in the country, but optimism will set in soon," he assured the House.
Pointing to his victory in the 16th Lok Sabha elections, Modi said the mandate of stability is not an ordinary decision by the nation and its people.
Referring to different political parties at the state and the Centre, he said, "The nation will strengthen when the states strengthen. I have been lucky to experience the misfortunes of a state as a chief minister. I have experienced both good and bad. How a state's issues are ignored."
He said the overall development of the country should be the primary aim for which the Centre and the state should work shoulder-to-shoulder. "This should be the spirit of development. The prime minister and his team has to work as Team India. Today, I heard a CM had written 40 letters and no replies. We need to have a mechanism to solve this," he said.
People need to know the Gujarat model, he said. "If Mayawati did good, Kerala's (erstwhile) left government, if they did something good, we wanted to adopt it in Gujarat. That was the Gujarat model. My ears are waiting to hear when Telangana says 'we beat Andhra Pradesh'. This is the spirit of development we want. This is the way forward for the nation."
Referring to the imbalance in development among states, he said, "The west coast and its states are developing fast, the east and its states are underdeveloped. Do we want a Mother India whose one hand is weak and the other strong? We need to work towards the development of the eastern states. Development should be inclusive and all-assimilated. We cannot leave the Northeast ignored." He referred to ecotourism as a means for developing the Northeast. "All colleges go on trips. On college tours, at least each college should tour the Northeast once. This will help encourage ecotourism," Modi said.
On power politics in the corridors of Delhi, Modi said, "We make so many plans to get political mileage. This creates a tension-filled environment. This is regressive for the nation." He said states affected by the Maoist insurgency can be also consulted in the same way for development.
"We cannot run this country from Delhi itself, but only by addressing these zones according to their nature," he said.
Speaking about the predecessor UPA government, he said, "I do not have the opinion that the previous government did nothing. We have to overcome the shortcomings if anything was left incomplete."
On rapes and crimes in the country, Modi said rape has impacted tourism in India. But crimes were being politicised in such a manner in the country that the image of India has taken a severe beating, which it is yet to recover from.
"There's no compromise over this. We will work together to remove these ills. Can't we go beyond politics over these issues?" he asked the Upper House.
Saying his government will be hard on the corrupt, he said, "The guilty should go to jail and the innocent let free. By 2015, we want a Parliament that is free of crime. We need to regulate law in a way to help all members of the Parliament be free of charges, or sent to jail if punished. No one should be excluded in this. We already took a decision on black money as soon as we formed the government. A country, without black money, will make the Parliament respectable to the nation's citizens."
Asking the people to have more faith, in general, and in his government, in particular, he said, "We need to have faith. We send an SMS and then call and ask "SMS mila?"
Modi ended his speech by asking Parliament's support and said they will treat "good points from previous governments" as lessons.
PM Narendra Modi speaking in Rajya Sabha
Pointing to his victory in the 16th Lok Sabha elections, Modi said the mandate of stability is not an ordinary decision by the nation and its people.
Referring to different political parties at the state and the Centre, he said, "The nation will strengthen when the states strengthen. I have been lucky to experience the misfortunes of a state as a chief minister. I have experienced both good and bad. How a state's issues are ignored."
He said the overall development of the country should be the primary aim for which the Centre and the state should work shoulder-to-shoulder. "This should be the spirit of development. The prime minister and his team has to work as Team India. Today, I heard a CM had written 40 letters and no replies. We need to have a mechanism to solve this," he said.
People need to know the Gujarat model, he said. "If Mayawati did good, Kerala's (erstwhile) left government, if they did something good, we wanted to adopt it in Gujarat. That was the Gujarat model. My ears are waiting to hear when Telangana says 'we beat Andhra Pradesh'. This is the spirit of development we want. This is the way forward for the nation."
Referring to the imbalance in development among states, he said, "The west coast and its states are developing fast, the east and its states are underdeveloped. Do we want a Mother India whose one hand is weak and the other strong? We need to work towards the development of the eastern states. Development should be inclusive and all-assimilated. We cannot leave the Northeast ignored." He referred to ecotourism as a means for developing the Northeast. "All colleges go on trips. On college tours, at least each college should tour the Northeast once. This will help encourage ecotourism," Modi said.
On power politics in the corridors of Delhi, Modi said, "We make so many plans to get political mileage. This creates a tension-filled environment. This is regressive for the nation." He said states affected by the Maoist insurgency can be also consulted in the same way for development.
"We cannot run this country from Delhi itself, but only by addressing these zones according to their nature," he said.
Speaking about the predecessor UPA government, he said, "I do not have the opinion that the previous government did nothing. We have to overcome the shortcomings if anything was left incomplete."
On rapes and crimes in the country, Modi said rape has impacted tourism in India. But crimes were being politicised in such a manner in the country that the image of India has taken a severe beating, which it is yet to recover from.
"There's no compromise over this. We will work together to remove these ills. Can't we go beyond politics over these issues?" he asked the Upper House.
Saying his government will be hard on the corrupt, he said, "The guilty should go to jail and the innocent let free. By 2015, we want a Parliament that is free of crime. We need to regulate law in a way to help all members of the Parliament be free of charges, or sent to jail if punished. No one should be excluded in this. We already took a decision on black money as soon as we formed the government. A country, without black money, will make the Parliament respectable to the nation's citizens."
Asking the people to have more faith, in general, and in his government, in particular, he said, "We need to have faith. We send an SMS and then call and ask "SMS mila?"
Modi ended his speech by asking Parliament's support and said they will treat "good points from previous governments" as lessons.
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