New Delhi, Sep 2(PTI): At Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s book launch Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that calling for discipline these days is branded as “autocratic” in the country.

Praising Naidu for being a disciplinarian, Modi said, “Venkaiah ji is a disciplinarian, but our country’s situation is such that it has become easy to call discipline undemocratic. If someone calls for discipline, he is branded autocratic…the whole dictionary is opened.” He added that when Naidu was part of the party he performed his duty with due diligence and adapted to every situation he was put in.

Calling Naidu a farmer at heart, Modi added, “Atal Ji wanted to give Venkaiah Naidu Ji a ministry. Venkaiah Ji said I want to be the minister for rural development. He is a farmer at heart. He is dedicated towards the welfare of farmers and agriculture.”

Former PM Manmohan Singh, who was also in attendance, said that the Vice President’s political and administrative experience is amply reflected in his one year in office. But the best is yet to come, he added.

Raising the issue of people moving away from agriculture, Naidu called for a biased approach towards the sector from the government in coming days and said, “There is a need for sustained support to agriculture. Finance Minister is here, he may not like what I’m saying as he has to take care of everybody, but there has to be a bias towards agriculture in coming days otherwise people are leaving agriculture as it’s not remunerative.”

The 245-page book, ‘Moving On… Moving Forward: A Year in Office’, brings out Naidu’s “mission of engagement” on four key issues with various stakeholders across the country and its alignment with the mission of a new India in the making. Naidu says in the book his mission of exploring and shaping public discourse over four key issues took him on extensive travels across the country since he was sworn in as vice president on August 11 last year, PTI reported.