Words alone won’t end intolerance debate

The debate on intolerance does not seem to have made the government aware of the depths of concern being voiced by top writers and artists — who returned awards to express their pain — as well as prominent figures from academia and industry and business, as also distinguished figures from the world of cinema, including Shah Rukh and Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor and even Amitabh Bachchan, deemed to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

In a recent concept note on “Radicalisation: A Growing Security Challenge”, the Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA), a defence ministry think tank, has noted that “religious intolerance and provocations have increased”.

On his recent trip to London, the PM was quizzed on this by the British media but his reply seemed too general and appeared to avoid the real question — that ministers and MPs of his own party and the Hindutva fold had been communalising the atmosphere. Mr Modi also spoke of acting promptly in such cases, but this has clearly not happened. From the government’s side, the discussion in the two Houses of Parliament failed to elicit a clear expression of resolve to subject the wrong-doer to the rigour of the law.

The best that Union home minister Rajnath Singh had to offer in the Lok Sabha last Tuesday regarding those from his party issuing inflammatory statements was that he had made it known that “we should be careful in making statements”. In light of what’s been happening in the country for the past three months, the home minister said that “an artificial campaign by a handful of people” had been unleashed “to tarnish our image”.

This is a travesty, and a continuation of the line of “manufactured revolt” first noted by finance minister Arun Jaitley. Speaking in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday, the PM did much better when he observed, “Nobody can raise questions over patriotism of the 125 crore citizens of the country. Nobody needs to give a certificate of patriotism every now and then.” He also said, however, that it was a blot on “all of us” if there was an “atrocity”. This really does amount to skating over the communal question. India is not a communal country. Still, it is being repeated over and over again by senior BJP and RSS functionaries evidently to divert attention from the culpability of those from their own ranks.

On Tuesday President Pranab Mukherjee observed that the “real dirt” was “in our minds”, as he called for efforts to “cleanse minds” of divisive views. The government should hear that counsel.