vinit goenka

Intolerance debate is a shrill to derail the development agenda of NDA govt

Intolerance debate is a shrill to derail the development agenda of NDA govt

• Authentic data released by Union home ministry states NDA has reign in communal tensions much better than UPA.
• Number of communal clashes have only fallen under NDA regime.
• More communal clashes have been reported in non-BJP ruled states

At a time of economic resurgence, when NDA government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is propelling the country towards development, there have been desperate attempts from the opposition to deviate the discourse on negative tracks raising flimsy issues. The Congress party and its allies are doing their best to manipulate facts in order to create a devilish image of an otherwise forthright  and incorruptible regime who has been voted to power on an agenda of growth and empowerment with a mammoth majority just nineteen months ago.

Not falling into oppositions trap the Prime minister has kept his focus on economic development as he believes that casteism and communalism can only be wiped out through the “amrit dhara” (the nectar) of development. Uplifting all the sections of society from poverty is the ultimate goal of this government and everyone who is part of it is striving hard in this direction.

The success of countless programmes like Jan Dhan Yojana, the ambitious scheme aiming to provide social security across sections of society, Kisan Kalyan Yojanaaimed to make farming a profitable and sustainable profession, Digital India with a motto to kick off digital revolution in the country and much appreciated Make in India campaign with the goal to turn India into a manufacturing hub substantiate his claims of inclusive development. This also reels oppositions’ hoarse of ‘suit-boot ki sarkar’into pieces.

Eventually they engaged some intellectual mercenaries to create the atmosphere of fear and animosity. The highly propagated and over-rated ‘Award returning’ (#Awardwapsi) campaign was a part of this well hatched conspiracy. There are lot of people who are actually worried about this atmosphere sought to be created in this country and who have not returned their awards and, according to me, these were probably the rewards for political consideration and not the awards, which were genuinely sought.

But data released by Union Home ministry insists that Modi government has been more successful to reign in intolerance and communal tensions than its predecessor UPA. Contrary to the claims made by opposition, incidences of communal violence have fallen drastically from 2013 to this year. The factual data reveals, number of communal and sectarian clashes have declined substantially since the NDA government has come to power.

        

*The graph is based on official figures & data released by union ministry of Home affairs

The number of communal incidents in the country has declined “substantially” since the NDA government has come to power. There has been some rise in incidents between 2014 and 2015, but government has controlled the situation far better than that of UPA’s in 2013. The established Indian definition explains that ‘major events’ are classified as those where over five persons have been killed or 10 injured or which lead to multiplicity of fatalities and extensive destruction of property. ‘Important events’ are classified where at least one person has been killed or at least 10 persons are injured.

According to the official data of union Home ministry, 644 ‘communal incidents’ took place in 2014, including 133 in UP, 72 in Rajasthan, 97 in Maharashtra, 56 in Madhya Pradesh, 73 in Karnataka, 10 in Jharkhand, 74 in Gujarat, 7 in Delhi, 61 in Bihar and 16 in West Bengal.

This year, between January and October, 650 incidents have taken place with a maximum of 139 taking place in Uttar Pradesh. While 97 incidents were reported from Maharashtra, 86 from Madhya Pradesh, 79 from Karnataka, 24 from Jharkhand, 47 from Gujarat, 59 from Bihar and 24 from West Bengal.

This has clearly exposed the erroneous and fallacious comments made by Congress leadership who trying to portray a false picture that BJP ruled states are more sensitive communally than those who are that states ruled by BJP such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh are more communally sensitive than those do not have NDA governments.

Now Congress needs to understand that the fact that the responsibility of maintaining law and order rests with the state governments and the Centre assists them in a variety of ways such as sharing of intelligence, sending alerts, advisories and deploying central forces after consulting them. Thus it is time for self proclaimed seculars such as Samajwadi Party, JD(U) and their guardian Congress to introspect and re-instate withering social fabrics amidst sections of society under control.

This clearly states India is not becoming intolerant and there is absolutely no data to support this fact. In fact, this entire atmosphere is sought to be created to malign the image of a democratic elected government. In wake of getting their political mileage the opposition doesn’t even know how it is affecting the relationships among communities and affecting India’s progress. Their formula is simple, divide the majority community by caste and polarise the minorities in the name of religion.