Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's valedictory remarks at National Integration Council meeting

"Honourable members of the National Integration Council - this has been an exploratory session, but it has also been very instructive. The Home Minister has tried to sum up the various important issues that have been raised and one of these relates to the formulation of the agenda of the Council for the future. I do agree that perhaps we should invite members to suggest items which in their view, ought to claim priority attention. In the next meeting of the Council we will reflect on this suggestion and as far as possible, we will implement them.

The importance of communal harmony, I think needs no reiteration. It is the 'sine qua non' of our survival as a civilised society. Several members have drawn attention to the material that is available in the civil society organisations. There is a lot of material available in the reports of judicial Commissions, Inquiry Commissions. Asghar Ali Engineer Sahib has done a lot of work. I think we have a lot of material about the anatomy of communal riots. I will suggest to the Hon'ble Home Minister that some group should be asked to look at all the various reports, what lessons we draw with regard to not only for the prevention of communal violence in the future, but also what can we learn from the past experience with regard to the strengthening of the administrative machinery, the police machinery, the judicial machinery and other relevant materials.

Reference was also made to ensuring that the rehabilitation work in Gujarat should proceed effectively without going into the merits of the relative jurisdiction. I think it is appropriate that National Integration Council should be satisfied that the rehabilitation work in Gujarat is proceeding in the right way. I will suggest to the Home Minister that some mechanism must be found, so that this Council when it meets next can look at this aspect of the matter. It is in our national interest that wherever there are riots, there must be effective arrangements to ensure that the victims of the riots are given maximum possible rehabilitation assistance. We will ensure that.

There was also great concern about the problem of Naxalite extremism. The Home Ministry is in constant touch with various State Governments. I think a broad-based national strategy is emerging. But I will also reflect whether a sub-group of the National Integration Council can also give its inputs for devising an effective, coherent, national strategy to deal with the problems of the Left-wing extremism, which looks at not only the punitive side, but also how we can ensure through development mechanisms that our young men and young women do not stray from the path of working in the national mainstream.

Members have rightly expressed a great deal of concern on strengthening the integration forces in the North-East and in Jammu & Kashmir. We take the work of development in the North-East, as well as in Jammu & Kashmir, very seriously. I myself monitor, almost every month the work that is being undertaken in these States. Although it would be wrong on my part to say that we are able to meet all the needs of money, that are asked for by the North Eastern States, or for that matter, the State of Jammu & Kashmir, there has been a very substantial improvement in the last one year and the members can rest assured that our Government recognises the great importance of rolling back any feeling of alienation that may exist in Jammu & Kashmir, or for that matter, in the States of North-East.

With these words, I once again thank all the Hon'ble members, particularly Shri Vajpayeeji, Shri Gujralji, V.P. Singh Sahib and Congress president, Smt. Sonia Gandhi for their participation. As I said, this has been an exploratory meeting. We have learnt important lessons and I sincerely hope that the next time the Council meets, we will probably have a more structured agenda.

The Council has also deliberated on the role of education and the role of mass media in promoting communal harmony. Hon'ble Minister for Human Resource Development has made a constructive contribution to our understanding of the role of education. If necessary, we will go into these subjects in-depth, and if necessary, we will produce a structured paper on both - the role of the media, as well as role of education in inculcating a feeling of brotherhood, common nationhood and strengthening communal harmony."