Hope tradition of impartiality will continue: Azad welcomes Naidu in RS

New Delhi, Aug 11 (IANS) Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday welcomed Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu, the new Chairman of Rajya Sabha, and hoped that the tradition of impartiality would continue.

He said that Naidu rose from humble background and faced struggles during the early period of his life and has risen to become one of the top leaders in the country, which he said is the best part of democracy and the Constitution.

"You are one of the very few who get this auspicious chance to sit on that chair... You have risen from the ground and come from a very humble background, this depicts the best part of our democracy," Azad said.

Welcoming the new Chairman on behalf of the entire opposition, Azad said that it's twice a responsibility to run the upper house as the members have to meet the expectations of the MLAs who elected them, and the people who elected the MLAs in the first place.

"People like judges, Speaker and chairman Rajya Sabha have a scale behind them to remind us that they are impartial. They have to be just and impartial so that House may function properly...

"Our House has double the responsibilities, that is why it must maintain the tradition that no bill passes through this House in the din... Hope that tradition would continue," Azad said.

Specially mentioning the humble beginnings of CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who was given a farewell from Rajya Sabha on Thursday, Azad said it's the power of a democracy that the capabilities of a person are not confined due to poverty or poor background.

"There are people across the House who had risen from scratch and grassroot level to some of the top posts. People who are not rich, prosperous or not empowered can rise to the top through their work. This is the best part of the democracy, this is the power of Constitution," Azad said.

He said that we must also not forget people who came from a prosperous background yet sacrificed their lives for the nation.

"We must not forget those who were prosperous and then sacrificed their wealth, families and children, we must not forget them today. Great people like Moti Lal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, Subhas Chandra Bose, Sardar Patel and Maulana Azad were all prosperous yet they left everything and gave their lives to the country," he said.