Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said that attempts are being made in some parts of the country to divide the society on basis of religion, caste and communities. “There is a need to follow the path shown by Indira Gandhi,” Singh said.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi said, “There is a danger from some ideologies, organisations and people who want to divide us.” The two leaders were speaking at the Indira Gandhi National Integration Award function. The Indira Gandhi National Integration Award was given to noted agriculture scientist MS Swaminathan.
The Prime Minister added that it would not be wrong to say that India could achieve the Green Revolution due to Indira Gandhi’s leadership and Swaminathan’s effort and also took the opportunity to hail UPA’s achievement of the Food Security Act. “It was based on this foundation that today we have been able to bring in the Food Security Act,” he further said.
Manmohan Singh recalled the late Prime Minister’s contribution in the social and economic development of the masses and said Indira Gandhi wanted to take the benefits of development to weaker sections of the society.
Sonia Gandhi said, “We have always kept national unity as our top priority. We need to remember Indira Gandhi’s courage and her sentiments so that we can fight that fear with conviction.”
lauding the public sector’s efforts that connected people of various regions in the country, she lamented that not much attention is paid to uniting different parts of the country and their people these days.
Talking about the difficult times of 1960s when India had faced foodgrain shortage and had to import foodgrains, the Congress chief lauded Indira’s efforts and the role of Swaminatahan in making India self-reliant in the agriculture sector.
“During that time too, there were people who would criticise and find faults and there were people who would not have trust. But despite all this, it was achieved well,” she said.
Gandhi recalled that among the challenges of independent India in terms of national unity was of creation of modern economic situation and institutions with special emphasis on agriculture production and distribution and development of agriculture techniques.
In his speech, Swaminathan said that when India had to import 10 million tonnes of foodgrain, Indira Gandhi planned creating a foodgrain reserve of the same quantity.