Modi calls for peace, unity

Rising intolerance: Pressure mounts on PM to act

On a day when prominent persons raised their voices against growing intolerance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said “unity, peace and harmony” are the first conditions if India has to move forward and attain new heights of development.

President Pranab Mukherjee once again called for preserving the multiplicity and pluralistic character of the country and said India has thrived due to its power of assimilation and tolerance.

The President, who had on a number of occasions spoken against growing intolerance in the last three weeks, was speaking at the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Delhi High Court here which had “Justice for All” as its theme.

Modi, however, spoke at an event marking the 140th birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, against the backdrop of protests by artistes, writers and scientists over alleged “rising intolerance” after the Dadri lynching and killing of progressive thinkers.

The prime minister, who is under pressure to stem attacks fanning communalism, had condemned such instances in the past as well by saying that Hindus and Muslims need to fight poverty and not each other at a Bihar Assembly poll rally.

In his address to youth and students at Rajpath, the prime minister also attacked the dynastic politics of Congress as he asserted that the country’s first home minister “never promoted any family member in his political life”.

“Sardar Patel never indulged in dynastic politics. He never promoted any family member in his political life,” he said in his veiled attack on the Congress. Modi also felt that it was “the strength and wisdom of Sardar Patel's decision making that had thwarted all evil designs, and ensured the emergence of modern, independent India”.

Modi, however, paid homage to former prime minister Indira Gandhi, on her death anniversary. The prime minister administered the national unity pledge to the gathering and flagged off the “Run for Unity.”

Eminent personalities have been mounting pressure on the government to act upon fringe elements and the BJP motor mouths who disturbing peace and challenge virtues of plurality.