The Centre on Monday asked all States to take strictest action against those who attempt to weaken the secular fabric by exploiting religions emotions. The Union Home Ministry’s Advisory urged the States to adopt zero tolerance to such attempts. Senior Ministers in the Government too came out strongly over the issue. Minority Affairs Minister Najma Heptullah and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi urged the Uttar Pradesh Government to take stringent action in the Dadri incident.
“Whoever responsible for Dadri incident will be punished according to law,” said Heptullah. Her colleague Naqvi said “no destructive agenda” will be allowed to dominate Government’s focus on development. For his part, Jitendra Singh, MoS in PMO said the Centre was committed to empowerment of minorities with dignity.
In a statement, the Home Ministry said it was concerned over various incidents with communal overtones across the country — including the recent “unfortunate” incident at Dadri in Uttar Pradesh where one person was lynched.
“Consequently, the Home Ministry today issued an advisory to State Governments stating that there is zero tolerance for any attempt to weaken the secular fabric of the nation and exploiting religious emotions or sentiments. MHA has called on the States to take strictest action as per law against such elements without any exception whatsoever,” the statement said.
On October 1, the Home Ministry had sought a report on the Dadri incident from the Uttar Pradesh Government and advised the State to ensure that such incidents do not recur. However, the State Government is yet to respond to the Home Ministry’s communication, forcing it to send a reminder on Monday today to send the report detailing the incident.