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Home Minister P Chidambaram while addressing the Islamic scholars and clerics at the Deoband conference organized by the Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind mentioned that the government is protecting the ‘undeniable’ rights of Indian minorities living across the world, by working along with all sections of the society.
According to the Home Minsiister, “A nation can ignore its minorities only at its peril...We must always remember that pluralism is our inheritance and strength. It was the duty of the majority to protect the minority. Due to the acts of a few, we have allowed diversity to become differences.”
“The UPA Govt is committed to protecting the rights of all minorities and we stand by the undeniable rights of Indian minorities all over the world. That is why we oppose the injustice being done to Tamils in Sri Lanka and condemn violent assault against our students in Australia,” he said.
Chidambaram, who is first to address such a gathering, mentioned, “I use this opportunity to reach out to every section of our society. It is part of my duty as the Home Minister to communicate to them the efforts being taken by the government towards building a just, humane, progressive and a civilised society.”
He also extended praised Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind for the role it played in building India.
“We all know that it was among the first Muslim organisations, which opposed the tyrannical rule of the British Empire and the two-nation theory aimed at dividing the nation. It has since independence worked tremendously for the uplift of the Muslims residing in India.”
Mentioning that Islam preaches for shunning violence, Chidambaram said, “We cannot view Islam as an alien faith because this is the land of your forefathers, this is the land of your birth. It is a matter of our pride that Islam exists in India along with other major religions.”
Underlining the need for pluralism for strengthening India, he has criticized Communalism and has urged the Islamic leaders to contribute towards the development of nation.
“We must deplore Communalism since it opposes modernisation, rejects the idea of a civil society, creates divisions and opposed to political freedom and is "an obstacle in building a modern society," he stressed
“We must also ensure an undeniable socio-political and economic freedom to every section of our society,” he added.
“All Indians share a common cause of fighting Communalism and this cannot be done by mere dialogues. We need to take several measures aimed at improving the socio-economic status of our citizens and educate them, which will further empower our children against all odds,” he stated.
“A civil society is based on a compact and the basis of which is tolerance so we must spread the message of tolerance, peace and tranquillity in the country," he added.
Referring to Prime Minister’s 15-point programme, Chidambaram said, "The main objective of these measures are to ensure that the fundamental rights such as equal status, right to work, right to job, right to religious freedom and right to information, right to property, right to education etc is available to every individual irrespective of caste, colour, creed or sect."
His speech ended with the goodwill message of peace and success from the Congress that has “championed the cause of all societies, without distinction” over the past 100 years.
