Vice-president Venkaiah Naidu delivered a moving address on Saturday. Talking about the recent violence in Kerala he said that all the political parties should unite. He also said that the people of Kerala must isolate the perpetrators of this violence. Naidu was speaking at the release of senior BJP leader, P. S. Sreedharan Pillai’s 100th book
He said, “Progress will not be possible without peace.“
The appeal came after the killing of the Youth Congress leader Shuhaib by CPI(M) workers. He also suggested that things like murder and violence will affect the ‘social fabric’. He expressed his concern that the violence will take attention away from development and progress. Pointing out that the ballot is stronger than the bullet he sought peace.
Naidu said that the people must strengthen democracy in the country. He spoke about secularity and tolerance in the Indian context. The speech brought up the fact that politicians are not enemies and that they just differ when it comes to ideologies. He also equated the tension to black money and corruption. The speech urged the people to put a ‘full stop’ to the violence. Describing the concept of ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam’ he drew references in the form of India’s heritage and the appreciation the country has received abroad for its tolerance.
Violence certainly isn’t the answer to anything as Venkaiah Naidu said. But if political parties don’t take it seriously, these will remain empty words. It might also be too ambitious to expect political parties to put aside violence. There’s a deeply horrifying habit in India of people taking the law into their own hands. Perhaps if the system of justice is fixed, and justice is delivered faster instead of it taking the court years to decide maybe then we can hope to solve the crisis at hand. Or maybe all these deaths and all this violence will forever be silenced as a string of coincidences.