Narendra Modi releases Venkaiah Naidu's book on his first year as vice president, calls him a 'farmer at heart'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday released Venkaiah Naidu’s book, Moving On… Moving Forward: A Year in Office, on his experiences during the first year as the Vice President of India and Chairman of Rajya Sabha and called him a strict “disciplinarian”. [caption id=“attachment_5098291” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. Getty images[/caption] The 245-page book brings out Naidu’s “mission of engagement” on four key issues with various stakeholders across the country and its alignment with the mission of a new India in the making. He identifies these core issues as: unrealised demographic dividend, need for an effective ecosystem for farmers to thrive and bridge the rural urban divide, orienting scientific advancements to better the life of the people, and enhancing public awareness about the rich Indian heritage and inculcating national pride in the country’s pluralistic, inclusive, harmonious worldview. The book also contains a chapter on various initiatives taken by Naidu as the Chairman of Rajya Sabha. At the launch, Naidu said that there is a need for sustained support to agriculture. He said that there has to be a bias towards agriculture in the coming days as people are leaving agriculture because it’s not remunerative. “The very idea of this book is to present a report to the people because I believe in public life hence there should be transparency and accountability,” the vice president also said. The prime minister said that he had the opportunity to work with Naidu for several years and that the vice president “emphasised on karyabhaar more than everything else”. Saying that Naidu has performed every duty he has had with the utmost diligence, Modi added that the vice president adapted into every role with ease. “Venkaiah_ji_ is a disciplinarian, but our country’s situation is such that it has become easy to call discipline undemocratic. If someone calls for discipline, he is branded autocratic… the whole dictionary is opened. But the discipline Venkaiah_ji_ calls for he himself follows it,” he said. Naidu has been in public life for 50 years – 10 years in student politics and 40 years in state as well as national politics, Modi added. He also said that Naidu always provides visionary leadership whenever he gets a responsibility and gets the best experts to ensure justice is done to the work assigned. Talking about the time when Atal Bihari Vajpayee wanted to give Naidu a ministry in his government, Modi said that he chose ‘rural development’. He also called the vice president a “farmer at heart”.

Atal Ji wanted to give @MVenkaiahNaidu Ji a ministry. Venkaiah Ji said- I want to be the Minister for Rural Development.

Venkaiah Ji is a farmer at heart. He is passionate about the welfare of farmers and agriculture: PM @narendramodi

— PMO India (@PMOIndia) September 2, 2018

The Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana came into being due to the efforts of Naidu_ji_, Modi said while adding that in a time when political discourse was centred around train stoppages only, Naidu ensured that leaders began to think more about roads and other forms of connectivity. Modi also said that Naidu has a way with words and is a wonderful speaker, in English and Telugu. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh was also present at the book launch event and said Naidu brings political and administrative experience to the Office of the Vice President of India and it is reflected in his one year in office. With inputs from agencies