Govt has no desire to issue ordinances: Venkaiah

Faced with criticism over the government issuing several ordinances, Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Sunday said the government has “no fancy for issuing ordinances” and that the Opposition should allow the Parliament to function properly.

“Nobody has got a fancy for issuing ordinances. We don’t want to issue ordinances. But a violent minority cannot obstruct a silent majority from taking the country’s development forward,” the Parliamentary Affairs Minister said. Noting that it is the right of the opposition parties to oppose the government, he said they can resort to democratic methods, like walkout to register their protest.

He alleged that the opposition parties are stalling the Rajya Sabha as they seem to be not in favour of the Modi government earning a good name for its development efforts.

“Our friends from opposition... they want to block development. They don’t want Narendra Modi to get name by developing the nation. That seems to be the attitude.

Otherwise, there is no meaning. I am not saying opposition should support every move of the government...No. You are the opposition...I propose, you oppose. Let the House dispose.

Allow the House to function,” he said. Claiming that there was a “holiday for growth” for 10 years (during UPA regime), he said there is a need to work overtime now.

Alleging that the NDA government has inherited fiscal deficit, revenue deficit and current account deficit and “above all trust deficit”, he said the confidence has now come back and things are now looking up.

Maintaining that the Modi government is trying to “repair” the damage caused to the economic growth, he said reforms are being taken up and it takes time to witness the fruits of the efforts. 

Observing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has “unleashed forces of growth”, he said the country is now poised for major growth.

“India is projected to grow at 6.3 per cent in 2015 and 6.5 per cent in 2016, when it is likely to cross China’s projected growth rate of 6.3 per cent as the government’s reforms are promising and their implementation is key,” Naidu said. According to him, under the Pradhan Matri Jan Dhan Yojana, 11.05 crore accounts have been enrolled “which is a world record”.

The programme of ‘smart cities’ is a challenging one and a two-day national consultation on the initiative was held, he said, adding that the Centre would like to involve the state governments and urban bodies as well. Regretting that frequent elections in the country were affecting the focus on development efforts, he expressed hope that a day would come when all elections in the country are held once in five years.

Naidu, who was speaking at the 56th National Cost Convention of the Institute of Cost Accountants of India here, noted that there have been continuous elections since May last year.

“An ideal situation for any country is to have elections once in five years. Parliament, Assembly, municipality, local body, panchayat, cooperative society, milk society, employees’ organisation... All should be done within a week so that there is no deviation, dilution of our attention towards development activity of our country. I hope that situation will come one day. Earlier, before 1957, that used to be the practice,” he said.