No atmosphere of intolerance, claims Govt

The prevailing communal situation in the country does not indicate existence of alleged intolerance in the country, Government on Tuesday said.

Replying to queries in Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju said the number of communal incidents were 650 this year up to October and that the responsibility of dealing with communal violence rests primarily with the respective state governments.

“Although it has been brought out in various fora, the prevailing communal situation in the country does not indicate existence of alleged intolerance in the country,” he said in a written reply.

Rijiju said the number of communal incidents in the country in recent years have been 668 in 2012, 823 in 2013 and 644 in 2014. Further, the number of communal incidents in the country have declined “substantially” since the NDA government came to power, the government said.

“In fact, the incidents have gone down and not come up since our party has come to power,” he said during the Question Hour in the ongoing winter session of the parliament. Rijiju said to maintain communal harmony in the country, the central government assists the state governments and Union territory administrations in ways like sharing of information, sending alert messages sending central armed police forces personnel besides others.

Meanwhile, members deprecated attempts to take political benefit out of incidents of intolerance and underlined the need for ensuring peace and harmony in the country. They underlined the need for everyone to show maturity and sensitivity to nip in the bud any attempts to tear the social fabric.