On Sunday, religious leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar expressed his backing for the 'One Nation, One Election' idea—a major reform proposal that is being strongly pushed by the present central government.
He underlined the importance of turning this into a legal requirement, saying that the step is important to speed up the nation's development path.
In a conversation with IANS, the Art of Living Foundation founder offered congratulatory wishes to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government for having reached eleven years in power. Throughout the conversation, he covered several issues, such as election reforms and rural growth.
Supporting the call for simultaneous elections in the entire nation, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said that the time had finally arrived to implement this concept, as it would do away with recurrent interruption brought about by the election process and bring about more concentrated governance.
Officials and government staff are still busy with never-ending election work -- panchayat, taluka, municipal, state, and central elections, so there is no time to do work. Even the politicians keep shifting from one election rally to another. To liberate the country from this rut and speed up development, 'One Nation, One Election' is necessary," he said.
The spiritual guru also praised the Modi government's efforts to enhance road connectivity and basic infrastructure in far-flung border regions, particularly in northeastern states such as Arunachal Pradesh.
"The government's initiative of providing basic facilities, including electricity and roads, in these remote locations is really commendable," he said, adding that his foundation, with the support of the government, has adopted several villages to help in rural development.
Looking back at the Prime Minister's radio show, 'Mann Ki Baat', he pointed to its importance in establishing a direct link of communication between the country's leader and the people.
"It enables direct interaction with numerous citizens and brings out diverse schemes operating in the country. It provides citizens from all walks of life a platform to vent their voices and get in touch directly with the head of the state, i.e. the Prime Minister," he added.
Such platforms not only give confidence to citizens but also enable mobilization of national efforts towards making India a powerful global force, according to Ravi Shankar.
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