Venkaiah Naidu laments ‘erosion of ethics’ in politics

Former Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu on October 13 (Friday) spoke about erosion of ethics in politics.

Speaking at a programme organised by members of The Krishna District Lorry Owners’ Association to distribute scholarships to students of Telugu-medium schools, Mr. Venkaiah Naidu cited examples of leaders of prominent political parties uttering profanities even on the floor of the Assembly. “Such outbursts of profanity in the House are unfortunate,” he said.

Sharing a recent experience, he said an elderly women seemingly disturbed by the vile language used by people’s elected representatives in public asked him if there was a way to reform their behaviour. “I advised her to ensure that she goes out and exercises her franchise on election day. That is the best way to show them their place,” he said amidst applause.

The former Vice-President underscored the importance of one’s mother tongue as a medium of instruction at primary-level in schools. “In today’s globalised world, it may be important to be able to communicate in multiple languages. But one does not have to forget their own mother tongue,” he said.

“Mother tongue is the foundation for learning other languages. This is because it is the language that a child first acquires and it is also the language that one is most comfortable with. It has been proven time and again that people who know their mother tongue well, perform better academically than those who do not,” he emphasised.

He insisted that in an English-medium school, a child will face the challenge of mastering the subject as well as the language, while in case of one’s mother tongue, we see a greater participation of the learners, he said.

He said even leaders across the world of great stature speak in their mother tongue and cited examples of the leaders of countries like Russia, China, France and Germany who choose their mother tongue to converse with their global partners and engage translators to convey their views to their counterparts from other countries. “It’s time we learnt to take pride in our mother tongue,” he maintained.

Mr. Venkaiah Naidu distributed scholarships to school students.

Office-bearers of The Krishna District Lorry Owners’ Association, students, teachers and others were present.