New Delhi: Noting that a "new beginning" has been made in the government-Opposition ties, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday sought to reach out to the Opposition, saying the spirit of bipartisanship should prevail to ensure that the challenges of development and security are met.
Replying to the debate on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, he said the government will work for equitable development without discriminating against anybody and give priority to the backward and tribal regions.
He resolved to deal firmly with terrorism and adopt a two-pronged approach to tackle Naxalism by ensuring development of regions breeding Left-wing extremism while maintaining law and order.
Singh said the government will further strengthen its flagship programmes covering education, rural development, health care and improve delivery of public service through greater transparency and accountability.
Seeking cooperation of the Opposition, he said, "We must have a long-term vision if India is to achieve developmental objectives. I assure that we will have this vision, will and courage and address longer-term concerns as a befitting tribute to founding fathers of the nation."
Referring to the speeches of Leader of Opposition L K Advani and other leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad on the President's Address, he said, "I have seen the underlying sense of unity. We have made a new beginning."
The Motion of Thanks was passed in the Lok Sabha unanimously.
"It is our hope and prayer that we will be maintaining the spirit of bipartisanship on issues of national interest," Singh said as he hailed the unanimous election of Meira Kumar as Lok Sabha Speaker and BJP's Karia Munda as Deputy Speaker.
In his first speech in Parliament after the UPA returned to power, the Prime Minister said, "The tone of the debate on all sides has been constructive. That augurs well for the democratic functioning."
Referring to Advani's comments that if the government and Opposition work together, 21st century will be that of India, Singh said, "This is an idea, I have been saying, whose time has come."
Observing that the mandate for UPA was for "stability" and "continuity", he said, "We have received and accepted the mandate on the government with humility. There is no scope for bragging."
He said the mandate casts heavy responsibility upon on the government to provide a strong, purposeful and stable government for carrying out inclusive development process.
"This is a mandate for stability of change with continuity of equitable development and preservation and protection of secular and plural system. The agenda will keep us busy every day all the five years," the Prime Minister said.
He said that all modern democracies under the pressure of competitive politics "tend to adopt short-term perspective" and very often, "longer-term concern and issues do not get the attention they deserve."
Singh stressed the need for the "long-term vision, if India is to realise its development objective. I sincerely hope that we will have that vision, that will and the courage to address some of these longer-term concerns as a befitting tribute to the founding fathers of our Republic."
He said regions which have been left behind will get priority in development.
"No development agenda can succeed if the Centre, states and third tier of Panchayati Raj systems do not collaborate," Singh said.
"I assure that in dealing with states and Panchayati Raj institutions, we will operate strictly on the basis of objectivity. There will be no discrimination, whichever party is in power in states. That is our commitment," Singh said.
He appealed to all Chief Ministers to work together in the National Development Council to earnestly implement the vast inclusive development agenda of the Centre.
While talking about tensions in the system, Singh voiced concern over growing use of money and muscle power in polls and said it needed to be tackled if the health of democracy has to be protected.
On tribals, the Prime Minister said they have "not got a fair deal. The way we administer the tribal areas, the way we send officers who are disinterested to work in these difficult tribal areas, the flow of resources is not properly monitored and there is no proper guidance in the spending of resources."
The whole development strategy for tribal areas, at least in central India, requires a fresh look, he said and promised to do all that is possible to bring the tribal communities into the national mainstream.
Some steps had been taken in this direction during his previous tenure like ST and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act, which confers rights on forest dwellers, he said.
"But I do recognise much more needs to be done on the economic and social fronts to contain the discontentment in the tribal areas which often leads to Naxalism or Left-wing extremism," the Prime Minister said.
"Also, if we have to succeed, it is necessary for us to take a firm pledge that we will not encourage groups and individuals who wish to divide our country on the basis of religion or caste," he said.
He said despite the tensions and weaknesses in the system, the resilience in Indian democracy with diversity of languages, religions and castes, has proved "the prophets of doom and gloom wrong".