In an indirect reubuttal to outgoing Vice President Hamid Ansari’s statements on intolerance and the position of minorities in the country, Venkaiah Naidu who will officially be made the Vice President of India on Friday said the issue of minorities is being blown out of proportion.
Without naming Ansari, the former Union Minister said:
For me as a student of History and Politics, India is one of the most tolerant nations. Indian ethos and values respect each other’s rights under what you call the modern day secularism or ‘sarva dharm sadbhav’ equal respect for all religions. That’s what the tradition of the country is. India is secular not because of political leaders but because of its people and civilisation.
“There’s tolerance in every section of the society, that is why democracy is possible,” he added.
On Wednesday, speaking about the recent episodes of lynching and “ghar wapsi” amid others, Ansari had said that these signaled a “breakdown of Indian values, breakdown of the ability of the authorities at different levels... to be able to enforce what should be normal law enforcing work and over all the very fact that Indianness of any citizen being questioned is a disturbing thought.”
Ansari agreed with the belief that the Muslim community had reason to be insecure, owing to the kind of comments being made against them. Ansari said:
Yes it is a correct assessment, from all I hear from different quarters, the country... I hear more about in north India, there is a feeling of unease, a sense of insecurity is creeping in.
But on Thursday, Naidu said that “some parties” are raking up the issue of minorities for political gain.
There have not one, but several incidents of lynchings all across the country over alleged beef consumption, despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s, condemnation of killing people in the name of “Gau Bhakti” as being “not acceptable”. The government formally has not made any statement on specific cases of lynchings.
(With inputs from PTI)
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