Politics is to serve last man in queue, says Gadkari

The real objective of politics is to bring about a change in the life of the common man standing last in the queue but unfortunately, it is considered nowadays a means to grab power, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday.

Gadkari made the remark reflecting Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy on making decisions and how they would benefit the last man in the queue at a seminar in the Rajasthan assembly on Parliamentary System and People's Expectations.

"Politics is an instrument to bring about a social and economic change. The real purpose of democracy is to make the people standing at the last rung of the society prosperous and improve their lives through this," Gadkari said.

"This should be the purpose of politics as well. But, unfortunately nowadays the meaning of politics is understood only to get into power," he added.

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Gadkari said it is the behaviour and character of a person that decides the future of democracy. "The better we are, the stronger and better our democracy will be. That is why we remain loyal to our ideology. Only on this basis, a strong nation can be built by effecting social and economic changes," he said.

Gadkari said problems are plenty but it is the responsibility of the legislature to bring about a qualitative change leading to the social and economic upliftment of the society. "Problems are there everywhere — within the party, outside the party, in the constituency — but overcoming the problem and bringing about a qualitative change is the quality of a successful leader," he said.

Gadkari subtly asked political leaders to be content with whatever position they have achieved and use it to serve the people.

“The MLAs are unhappy because they could not become ministers, ministers are unhappy as they did not get the desired portfolio and those who got the desired portfolio are unhappy as they could not become the chief minister,” the Union minister said.

“And those who became the chief ministers are unhappy because they are not sure till when they will be on the post,” he added.

Gadkari made the remark two days after Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani resigned and amid the Rajasthan chief minister facing pressure for a Cabinet reshuffle and political appointments.

Observing that many states, including Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand face the problem of scarcity of drinking water, Gadkari suggested improving the country's irrigation infrastructure as a way out of the problem.

Advocating for improving the irrigation facility, Gadkari said the country cannot be completely self-sufficient unless farmers become prosperous. He also urged legislators to improve the road infrastructure and water conservation, which, he said, would increase the country's GDP and boost its holistic growth.

The seminar was organised by the Rajasthan chapter of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). Assembly Speaker and CPA's Rajasthan chapter president CP Joshi, Leader of Opposition and CPA vice president Gulab Chand Kataria and independent MLA and CPA secretary Sanyam Lodha also addressed the session.

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