By Mumtaz Alam, IndiaTomorrow.net,
London / New Delhi, 12 Nov 2015: It was maybe unexpected for him and all present at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London Thursday evening. It came down as a shell – fired from the correspondent of BBC. “Prime Minister Modi, India is becoming an increasingly intolerant place. Why?” asked the reporter as the first question at the joint press conference of India Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his British counterpart David Cameron on 12th Nov.
Showing courage and statesmanship, unlike several senior members of his government and party BJP at home, Modi didn’t reject the issue of growing intolerance in the country as a “manufactured” propaganda. Rather, he conceded the issue and answered the question invoking Constitution, Gautam Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi.
“This is the land of Buddha and Gandhi,” began PM Modi while responding to the question about the growing violence and intolerance in India. “Therefore, it is in our culture and veins that our country India does not accept anything against the basic values of society. And therefore, if an incident occurs in any part of the country – whether it is one incident, two or three; if one incident carries importance in a country of 125 crore people it is meaningless for us – every incident is serious for us. We do not tolerate it at any cost,” said the PM.
He further said law deals with such incidents harshly.
“Law takes its course and will do. India is a vibrant democracy which is committed to providing all security to common man and protection of his thoughts under the provisions of the Constitution,” said PM Modi.
As the first question asked to him was about the growing intolerance – the issue on which over 100 writers, filmmakers and academicians have returned their awards and honours in the last one month – the issue overshadowed all other things and hit headlines both on TV and in newspapers back home.
What PM Modi said in London yesterday (12 Nov) was perhaps his first public utterance on the issue of rising intolerance in the country in the recent weeks. One wonders why our PM invokes Buddha and Gandhi and Constitution abroad and not at home. Why was he silent when his own ministers and leaders were making provocative statements over Dadri beef lynching and attacks on writers and intellectuals in the last two months?
