Chennai: The need of the hour for people is to stay united, shun violence and work towards equality in all aspects to enable India progress, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu said today.
After inaugurating an exhibition “New India resolve to achieve” to mark the platinum jubilee of the Quit India movement at Anna University here, he said seven decades after the country had achieved independence, issues like poverty, illiteracy, gender inequality and caste discrimination were still prevalent.
“We must all resolve to fight these evils and work towards the country’s progress,” said Naidu, who was on his maiden visit to the city after taking over as Vice President.
He also urged the political leadership at the central and state levels to work to fight these evils.
“There is no place for violence in a democratic society and it must be curbed. We have to stand united against it. If violence takes place, people are the losers,” he said while referring to violence in some parts of the country.
He also said that people will have to stand united against terrorism in any form.
Naidu also batted for finding ways to make agriculture profitable and sustainable for the farming community and said “we are a huge population. We cannot sustain on imported food alone and need to produce our own food.”
“We have to make farming profitable and sustainable and a long-term solution has to be found to help farmers,” he said.
The Vice President also said that the time has come to bridge the urban-rural divide and ensure equality for all.
He termed the recent Supreme Court verdict on ‘triple talaq’ as a historic one and said it would go a long way in ending gender discrimination.
Naidu said it was imperative to preserve the freedom won after a long struggle.
He exhorted the people to resolve to eliminate casteism, communalism, corruption, gender bias, illiteracy and poverty.
Earlier, on his arrival, Naidu was given a warm welcome by Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, BJP State unit chief Tamilisai Soundararajan and Rajya Sabha MP Ila Ganesan.
The Governor presented a copy of the Telugu version of “Tirukkural” (Tamil treatise)” to Naidu.
The translated work was a translation from Tamil original and it was published by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil here.
Naidu later went to the Raj Bhavan where he visited the recently unveiled statues of Tamil saint poet Tiruvalluvar and poetess Avaiyyar in the premises.
The Governor, Tamil Nadu Fisheries Minister D Jayakumar and top offcials accompanied him at the Raj Bhavan.
—PTI