Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM's address at the Indira Gandhi National Integration Awards

I am very happy to be amidst you today for this very prestigious award function. The Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration is given every year on the martyrdom day of Indiraji. It is a small token of our deep sense of gratitude to one of the greatest leaders that modern India has produced.

Indiraji's contribution to nation building and national integration is unparalleled. Her commitment to national unity and integrity and to the cause of secularism is too well known to need an reiteration. Even twenty five years after her martyrdom, her legacy remains as strong and durable as ever and her vision still guides and inspires us and it will continue to do so for ages to come. As we pay homage to Indiraji, we should also re-dedicate ourselves to the ideals and values that she embodied. That indeed would be the best way to honour her memory.

I congratulate and compliment this year's awardee, Shri Balraj Puri. He richly deserves this honour. Shri Balraj Puri's life has been one of selfless service to the society and to our country. It has been a life dedicated to the cause of promoting peace, good-will and communal harmony. It has been a life spent in building bridges between regions and communities.

Shri Puri is an extraordinary personality, combining scholarship with activism. He has been a freedom fighter, a journalist, and a human rights activist. His knowledge about the State of Jammu & Kashmir is unmatched. Indeed I have learnt a great deal about the State from Shri Balraj Puri.

Shri Balraj Puri has written some of the most incisive books and articles on Jammu and Kashmir and the problems that this State faces. His writings display a deep understanding of the problems of the state and an ability to think out of the box. Not surprisingly, he has earned the great respect and admiration of the academic communities nationally as well as internationally, which has honoured him on many occasions. His book: 'Kashmir: Towards Insurgency' has become a primer for all those seeking to understand the cause for the troubles in the state, and the ways to move beyond them.

As an activist, many of Balraj Puri's efforts have been low profile and have gone unsung. It was he who helped to reconcile many of the differences between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah, and later Indiraji and Sheikh Sahib. The capital he built upon was his large circle of friends and comrades in every part of Jammu and Kashmir. It was not surprising, therefore, that even during the troubled years of the 1990s, Balraj Puri was among the few who carried credibility with all sides.

Shri Puri began his work at a very young age. He participated in the Quit India movement as a young boy of 14 years. He organized student movements in Jammu in 1946 and later founded the Peace Volunteer Corps in 1947 to work for preventing communal riots at the time of partition. Shri Puri has spent over 60 years in building peace in Jammu & Kashmir. But his work has not been confined to Jammu & Kashmir. His interventions in Punjab and in certain volatile parts of Uttar Pradesh have helped to defuse charged communal situations and paved the way for a dialogue and non-violent conflict resolution.

As we honour this extraordinary human being and we pay homage to the memory of Indiraji, one of our tallest leaders, we would do well to remember that tolerance and secularism define the very idea of India. That is the legacy of Indiraji. For centuries we have existed as a multi-religious and multi-cultural society, always ready to accommodate newer ways of thinking and living. This liberal outlook needs to be nurtured and strengthened. It is our solemn duty to raise our voice against those who attempt to divide our society on communal lines for their selfish interests. In this we need to learn from Shri Puri's commitment and hard work. I do believe that each one of us can, and should, contribute, in his own unique way, to the cause of national integration.

Let me end by once again congratulating Shri Puri. I wish him many many years of sustained health and happiness, and service to our country. We need more men and women like him in our society. May his tribe flourish.