Chief Minister N Rangasamy on Sunday, April 24, appealed to the Indian government to grant full statehood to Puducherry, which has been a long-pending demand of the union territory. He was speaking at a function in which foundation stones for various developmental projects were laid by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Rangasamy, who is heading the AINRC-BJP coalition ministry also said he would be grateful to the Union government if the demand for more funds for Puducherry were conceded. The Chief Minister noted that Puducherry was making progress because of sustained cooperation extended by the Union government.
Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, who spoke on the occasion, said as visualised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Puducherry would soon emerge as 'Best Union territory' in all developmental activities. Home Minister of Puducherry A Namassivayam, ministers, Speaker R Selvam and legislators of the All India NR Congress and BJP were among those present.
Meanwhile, speaking at the event, Amit Shah on Sunday said that culture was the common thread binding the citizens of the country across different regions and once India started to be seen as a "geocultural" country, all the problems will be solved automatically. In his address at the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Sri Aurobindo, Shah heaped praises on the latter for his contributions to the country and said to understand India, one has to read or listen to him.
"From Kashmir to Kanyakumari to Dwarka to Bengal, there is one culture that binds – the Constitution is important...the country should run on this. But if there is a bonding, it is the culture. Culture is its soul. This will be understood as soon as you read Sri Aurobindo," he said.
Shah further said most countries came into existence due to a coalition or alliance and were therefore geopolitical in nature. "There is one country in the world that is geocultural that is based on culture which has no boundaries and that is our India...and if one starts to look at India as a geocultural country, then all the problems will be automatically solved," he claimed.
“There is no concept of borders in our culture. In the Vedas, Upanishads and literature there is no mention of a country. We work for the welfare of all, the world," he said.