Ramzan will help promote peace and unity, says Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday conveyed greetings to fellow Indians and Muslim brethren on the occasion of Ramzan, saying India is lucky to have people from all communities and faith.

“We have adapted ourselves to a myriad of ideologies, different ways of worshipping and several traditions, and imbibed them in the art of co-existential living. All religions, faiths, ideologies and traditions give us the message of peace, unity and goodwill. We Indians are very lucky that our ancestors have created such a tradition that today India and its 1.25 billion people can take pride in the fact that people from all communities and faiths live here,” the prime minister said during his monthly Mann Ki Baat radio programme.

“This holy month of Ramzan will definitely be helpful in further strengthening these values of peace, unity and goodwill,” he said. The prime minister also paid tribute to Veer Savarkar on his birth anniversary, and appealed to the youth to visit the Cellular Jail in Andaman and Nicobar Islands once where the revolutionary freedom fighter was imprisoned by the Britishers.

“To even perceive what kind of torture and trouble our freedom fighters had suffered, one must visit the Cellular Jail,” he said. Modi said his monthly radio address had helped him connect with the people of the country.

“I have become like a member of every household. Some people take Mann Ki Baat as a monologue and some criticise it from a political angle,” he said, adding he did not think his radio address would be viewed politically when he launched it two years ago.