Reforms need people's approval in democracy: Venkaiah Naidu

Noting the challenges in making the transition from a socialist model to a market-oriented economy, Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said the reforms path has to be treaded carefully in a democratic country like India.

"Today, when pushing reforms, we have to go carefully, take the people with us, get approval for the policies," Naidu, who is also the parliamentary affairs minister, said in his address at the annual session of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

"We are a democracy... We want urgency, not emergency," Naidu said, in a reference to the suspension of civil liberties in the country during 1975-77 with the imposition of emergency by then prime minister Indira Gandhi.

The minister also claimed that an all-out concerted campaign was being run to create an impression that the National Democratic Alliance government is unfairly favouring certain corporate houses.

"It is a conspiracy to say this government is for Ambanis and Adanis," Naidu said.

On the criticism of the government as "pro-corporate", he said industry was an important component of the country's growth.

"Without industrial growth the country cannot prosper. Agriculture and industry are like two eyes, one needs both," Naidu said.