Modi favours consensus, calls for moratorium on violence

New Delhi, Aug 15: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today declared that he would like to run the country on the basis of consensus and not on majority in Parliament and called for a 10-year moratorium on caste and communal violence.

Addressing the nation from the ramparts of historic Red Fort for the first time, he also asked the misguided youth who have taken to terrorism and naxalism to shed their guns and adopt the path of peace and development.

Less than three months after taking over as Prime Minister, Modi unveiled a roadmap for his government, announcing a financial inclusion scheme for the poor to open bank account with built-in insurance, development of model villages by MPs and launching of a scheme for elimination of open defecation.

He asked the corporates to work with the government as part of their social responsibility to install toilets, including separate ones for girl students, in all schools by next Independence Day.

In his 65-minute extempore speech in Hindi without any bullet-proof shield, he also announced that the Planning Commission, a socialist-era vestige, would be soon replaced with a new institution keeping in view the economic changes internally and globally.

Asserting that he was speaking not as the Prime Minister but as "prime servant", Modi made a special mention of the services rendered by his predecessors and former governments for the country's development. Seeking the cooperation of all political parties and pledging to take their help, he referred to the Parliament session that concluded yesterday, saying "it was a reflection of our thinking and intention to move forward not on the basis of majority but on the basis of strong foundation of consensus.

"You must have seen that by taking all parties, including opposition, along we achieved unprecedented success. The credit for it does not go just to the Prime Minister or the government but also to opposition, its leaders and each of its MPs. I salute all MPs and leaders of parties with whose help we ended this first session with success."

PTI