Jharkhand Governor Droupadi Murmu today said that the pace of development should be accelerated by rising above politics to attain the objective for which the state was created 17 years ago.
"There should be a smile on every face and Jharkhand should be made a strong and prosperous state," Murmu said while addressing the 17th Foundation Day ceremony of the state legislative assembly here.
Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar on November 15, 2000. The tribal state's own legislative assembly came into existence seven days later on November 22 that year.
The Governor said that the state legislature has done several important works and achieved success with regard to solving problems of people and speeding up development of the state in the last 17 years.
The pace of the development should be accelerated by rising above politics, she said.
The foundation day gives opportunity to count successes, while pondering over shortcomings, she said.
On the occasion, Chief Minister Raghubar Das said that politics should be seen as connecting values and not as "vote bank".
"During elections there should be competition of every ideology. But as soon as the election is over, everyone should assist in the development works, leaving ideology behind," the CM said.
"Politics is not just a game for power. It is also a means to inculcate healthy traditions," Das said.
He said while there is competition in politics, there should be a "laxman rekha" and the dignity of the Assembly should not harmed.
"If the laxman rekha is crossed and every question is attached to vote then all that has been achieved in the past would be wasted," the Jharkhand CM said.
In a democracy, elections are fought not for creating enmity, but for competition, he said, adding power is a medium to serve the people.
Das said that his government was working for the betterment of the poor, tribals, dalits, the deprived, the exploited, farmers, women and the youth.
Every problem could be solved through debate, Das said. He said the role of the opposition is to assist the government constructively and the ruling side is always ready to improve wherever there is scope.
The chief minister said six districts, including Simdega, are backward and the government is working to bring them on a par with the leading districts. Special provisions would be made for these districts in the next budget, he added.
Even Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked to focus on these six districts, he said.
The effort would be to succeed in bringing these six districts among the developed districts in two to three years, the CM said.
Extremism in 16 districts has almost ended, the CM said, adding some "mask-clad" criminals are challenging the law and they are also being dealt with.
The chief minister said that the state government was speedily moving forward to make Jharkhand extremism-free by 2018.
He said that by 2022, no one will be homeless or unemployed in the state.
Assembly Speaker Dinesh Oraon and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Saryu Roy also spoke on the occasion.
The Jharkhand Governor gave away the Best MLA award to Bimla Pradhan on the occasion.
Pradhan, a BJP MLA from Simdega, received Rs 51,000, a citation and a shawl from the governor on the occasion.
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