Distinguished Members, it is my absolute privilege and honour to share my thoughts with you, and share thoughts on an occasion which is significant in the constitutional journey of this nation, home to one-sixth of humanity. We now have entered the fourth quarter of the century of adoption of the Indian Constitution, and we had in the Parliament a celebratory occasion for that.
My maiden visit to the state was a momentous occasion, and the occasion was a statehood celebration that is etched in my memory and that of my wife. It was a spectacular display of tribal talent and resplendent culture, time became a constraint, but we enjoyed every second of it.
Northeast captured imagination in particular in the 90s when there was formulation of a policy. Look East, Honourable Prime Minister, took it to the next level, a more functional level that could affect ground reality, be transformative, and that was Act East policy.
I had the occasion as Governor of the State of West Bengal for three years to see fruits of that policy, and this coupled with friends, Department of Northeastern Region and our Ministry, the importance and primacy that has been given to this area is absolutely a priority for the nation.
This region, I would love to come many times, it is bountifully gifted by nature, tribal culture, soothing people, their connectivity, crystal lakes, and they mirror what?, Himalayan peaks, to ancient monasteries, hamming with timeless chants, and I would say this place is a paradise for tourists. The entire Northeast offers something which is not available on the planet, and the impact is being felt.
Only last year, 1.19 crore tourists feasted themselves with the pristine beauty of this region, as also its rich culture.
Northeast is streaming fast into national life, and this is with respect to development I am referring to.
Now with 17 airports, 20 waterways, and deep digital penetration, I have seen it here with the Honourable Speaker conducting the proceedings, the region is developing with pace. The region's organic and natural farming offer a model for other states. Indigenous resources like bamboo, rubber, and what kind of a silk, I felt one when I went to the university.
These are areas that offer enormous market opportunities. It is here I am reminded of what the Honourable Prime Minister said, be vocal for local, one district, one product, and these Honourable Members have a great impact at the national level with our economy. Just imagine how much foreign exchange is lost when we import items that are avoidable.
We import items that are made in this country, from carpets, to furniture, to electronics, to toys, and even kites, even diyas, even candles. If we take to swadeshi, we'll be doing three good services to the nation.
One, employment opportunities for our people will be generated. Draining of our foreign exchange will be curtailed, and entrepreneurship will blossom.
India is largest functional democracy on the planet, democracy matters to all of us, and therefore, I need to remind you that two important steps have been taken in the last decade.
One step was the celebration of Constitution Day on 26th November, because it was in 1949 that the adoption of the Constitution took place.
This is to remind our people and ourselves that we undertook on that day with a preamble that there will be justice, equality, fraternity for all. We need to fructify it on the ground.
Constitution Day celebration will be a reminder to us that how precious the Constitution is. In recent times, we have seen two important aspects emanating.
One, equality before law. It was there in the Constitution, it was not a ground reality. Some people had taken to themselves, arrogated themselves to a level that we are beyond the reach of law. They forgot how high you may be, the law is always above you but now, everyone is being held accountable to law. Everyone is equal before law, those who thought they are immune to law are getting the heat of it. I quite often say privileged pedigree is antithetical to fair play, to equity, to merit, and fundamentally. It meditates against equality, and that has now made exit.
Thanks to our transformative technology, there is now in governance transparency and accountability. Corruption has been neutralised, and neutralised by technology, because now transfer of money takes place digitally, directly, there is no human interface in between.
Nobody is required to leverage that you get a benefit.
There's a big change that has come place that has taken roots in our country. The other day which we celebrate is a day that's more critical, that reminds us, the reminder is horrific.
Emergency was imposed in this country for 21 months, people who loved the nation, who loved democracy, who breathed in nationalism, and many of them were freedom fighters, were put behind jail. No access to justice, no freedom rights for them, high courts came up to the occasion, nine in number, that emergency cannot put on hold fundamental rights of the people.
The highest court of the land, the Supreme Court, caved in, it held otherwise. It was a litmus test for Supreme Court. It's a failure. It will never be able to come out of it, and we suffered emergency.
The present generation, I see on the right in the gallery, is not aware of it, how tough it was when newspapers went without editorial, when censorship was complete, where you could not breathe freedom and therefore, June 25 has been declared to be remembered as Constitution Hatya Divas. I'm sure members of the assembly will take note of it and the celebration of these two events has to be with education being spread. It is only with the knowledge of what happened in the past that we can be in cautionary mode.
Our guiding principle has to emanate from the preamble of the Indian Constitution. That's a great unifying force. It helps the larger democracy take the boldest of decisions and the last 10 years, we have seen exponential economic upsurge, phenomenal infrastructure growth. Accolades coming to this country from world institutions IMF, World Bank, World Economic Forum.
Our growth rate makes us proud, because no country comes close to usn but then I need to share with you. It's fine that India is the fifth largest global economy. It's an accomplishment. We are the third largest purchasing power. But our object is to be a developed nation and to be a developed nation, we have challenges and those challenges are income of our people has to go eightfold. That eightfold increase will take place when there is massive contribution by one and all. I'm certain that we will have Viksit Bharat. And why not? India as a nation was at the peak of the world for several centuries, having global economic share of one third or one fourth.
We were a Vishwa group with institutions like Nalanda and Takshila, Mithila, many institutions. So it's legitimate for us to expect but when I got into Parliament 35 years ago, it was a despondent situation. Alarmingly worrisome, a visit to Kashmir, we could see not more than two dozen people on the streets and last year, more than two crore people visited Kashmir as tourists, our foreign exchange, one billion, now it's 650 billion. As a member of Parliament, I took great pride. I had 50 gas connections in a year to give to anyone.
Imagine where we have come, government is giving millions gas connections free to needy women. So right now, Bharat is on the rise. It has facilitated an ecosystem for our youth.
I have expressed my deep pain, entering into the fourth quarter of the adoption of the Indian constitution, we could not work for a single moment in Rajya Sabha, my head is in shame.
We cannot afford this kind of a spectacle in a country that is the mother of democracy, the largest democracy. How we can secularise democracy? How can we go against the spirit of the constitution? How can we afford to walk out of our obligations? I'm happy to know your assembly is otherwise. It's a shining example, a beacon of hope.
I carry a very sound, worthwhile message from this place because we cannot have a position of irretrievable confrontational stance. We don't have an image in the country.
We have differences. Our political parties have to understand that ultimately the interest of all converges in nation prospering, in nationalism blossoming. We cannot, under any situation, keep any interest above our national interest.
Nation is first, unity of the nation is first and that is why I have seen myself three years as governor and now as vice president.
The focus on Northeast is transformative, it is engaging attention of the prime minister and everyone and every time I come to this part of the country, or go deep into South, we get a different kind of accord. We are one, we don't have to be one because we know each other's language, we are one because we belong to this great nation.
Honourable members, 2047 is no longer a dream, it's no longer wishful thinking. It is our target. We shall attain it, if not before but it needs everybody's wholehearted cooperation.
Let us imbibe our civilisational spirit, let us make our country that exemplifies highest of citizen discipline, citizen commitment. Let me make reference to what Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel said. He is known as a man who united the nation, he didn't have much time.
If you go to Statue of Unity, you will know it but whatever little time he had at his disposal, after independence, he remarkably did that good job. And what he said, “By common endeavour, we can raise the country to a new greatness.” Then he cautions, “while a lack of unity will expose us to fresh calamities.” Very sound words, very sage advice.
Honourable members, let us keep this always in our mind. Distinguished members, I extend my best wishes to the people of Arunachal Pradesh, members of this assembly, and I'm sure the state will reach new heights under the dynamic leadership. Let us resolve to work together, upholding democracy.
