''Terror, Talks Can't Go Together'' Says Vice President Venkaiah Naidu

Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday, October 1, 2018, launched a veiled attack on Pakistan saying that terrorism and dialogue cannot go together. Vice President Naidu's comments came after India recently called off the Foreign Minister level talks with Pakistan on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, in the wake of increasing acts of violence in Jammu and Kashmir.

Speaking at the International Human Rights Conclave in New Delhi, Vice President Naidu further urged the entire world community, particularly the United States, to join India in combating terror.

"It is time for entire world community to come together and the United Nations at the earliest, and take united action against terror. This is the need of the hour. We have terror here; on the one hand one of our neighbors is aiding, abetting, funding and training terrorists and on the other hand talking about the peace. Terror and talks cannot go together," he said.

Underscoring that terrorism is the enemy of humanity, Vice President Naidu asserted that the people who are affected with the menace carry out heinous activities in the name of religion.

"No religion worth their name condones or encourages or accepts terror as a policy. Some interpretations might be wrong here and there, but unfortunately, terror is ruling the roost in certain areas. India is bleeding with the pain of terror. The western countries did not realize this for long. Now, they have also become victims of the terror, and they are also realizing it," the Vice President elucidated.

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Stressing that a big war has been declared against corruption in the country, Vice President Naidu highlighted the benefits of demonetization and the challenges to implement the huge financial exercise.

"In India, a big war has been declared against corruption that is black money. There are practical problems and temporary pain caused to people. Demonetisation is a temporary pain for long-term gain. India is a democratic country and there will be criticism. The idea (of demonetization) is to stop counterfeit currency which was causing havoc because that was done with an evil design to destabilize the nation," Vice President Naidu said.

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Chiding the Opposition's remarks that the demonetized cash came to banks and the exercise was a failure, the Vice President opined that it was a good step that the disbanded money came back into the financial system.

He further said, "Your money that was kept in the bathroom, bedroom and under the pillows have returned to the banks. The money has come back to the banks with its address and ownership. Now it is the duty of the Reserve Bank of India and Income Tax department to identify which is black and which is white."

In August 2018, the central bank, in its annual report for the year 2017-18, stated that 99.3 percent of the demonetized Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes returned to the banking system, inviting massive criticism from the opposition parties, including the Congress.

Vice President Naidu further went on to say that the entire world must come together to deal with fugitive economic offenders, who create havoc in the country and flee. Earlier in the day, Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla had assured that the central government is making all efforts to bring fugitive economic offenders back to India.