Vice President of India M Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday (April 30, 2019) called upon media to shun giving prominence to coverage based on caste and community criteria, especially during elections.

He was delivering the first Dr Rajaram Jaipuria Memorial Lecture on Education, Entrepreneurship and Ethics at the Convention Center named after Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar in New Delhi.

Venkaiah Naidu also expressed his concern over the increasing role of caste and money in public life.

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"I wonder the purpose behind media focusing on caste data in every constituency. The media should focus on the public representatives' past performance in legislatures and parliament in terms of the number of questions asked, matters raised on public importance and their commitment towards peoples welfare rather than giving coverage to tactics like stalling the proceedings," the Vice President said.

Speaking further on the ways to elect and select the public representatives, the Vice President said, "People should choose their public representatives on the basis of four C’s – Character, Caliber, Capacity an Conduct. But unfortunately, these four C’s are being subverted by some people and have been replaced with four different C’s – Caste, Cash Criminality and Community."

Venkaiah Naidu also expressed his displeasure over diminishing values in public life and referred to the increasing trend of changing party loyalties by politicians.

"Changing parties has become a fashion and politicians are making a mockery out of democracy," Vice President Naidu said.

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