Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's concluding remarks at the 14th National Integration Council Meeting

I would like to thank all of you, leaders of political parties, Chief Ministers, social activists and other distinguished participants for the very useful deliberations today in this meeting of the NIC.

I have listened carefully to your well considered suggestions and would like to assure you that we will give due attention to each and every one of them.

I have noted with great satisfaction that there is across the board consensus on the need to contain communal discord and violence, protect minority rights and uphold our cherished ideals of nationalism, secularism, inclusiveness and non-violence. The Council has been unanimous in the condemnation of the recent acts of communal strife and discord in some parts of our country. There has also been agreement that terrorism constitutes a major challenge for the cohesiveness of our nation. This challenge has to be met effectively but targeting of particular communities and their profiling has to be avoided. It has to be recognised that terrorists have no religion. Today's deliberations will give us renewed courage to face all our challenges in the coming days.

Suggestions have been received to hold more frequent meetings of the NIC and to put in place an institutionalised mechanism within the NIC to pursue relevant issues on a continuous basis. These valuable suggestions will be taken up for immediate follow up action.

After hearing your statements, I believe that we agree on the imperative necessity to preserve and protect the secular fabric of our composite society and the interests of all our people, particularly the minorities and the disadvantaged. Needless to stress, it is incumbent on the Central and State Governments to act decisively and firmly when communal strife, ethnic violence and terror disturb our peace and harmony. I would like to take this opportunity to assure all of you that the Central Government would not be found wanting in the fulfilment of its Constitutional obligations.

I am convinced that we need to approach these issues with vigour and unity of purpose. What we are confronting today is a problem of dangerous proportions and we need to act together, now and in future. This meeting is one step forward. I call upon the Chief Ministers of all States to initiate similar dialogues with all sections of society. They should pay special attention to winning the hearts and minds of minorities and other disadvantaged groups. The police and security forces ought to be adequately sensitive to the concerns of minorities. Let us all work together, shoulder-to-shoulder to decisively defeat the nefarious designs of divisive forces and take our nation forward.

At the end of our very productive deliberations today, it is appropriate for us to adopt a resolution which reflects our concerns and resolve.