The National Integration Council (NIC) meeting on Monday was a ritual affair with a routine resolution to “preserve communal harmony” adopted even as non-Congress Chief Ministers like Narendra Modi, J Jayalalithaa, Raman Singh and Naveen Patnaik skipped the meet and war of words broke out between the BJP and the Congress.
The day-long meeting inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh turned into a theater of political bickering and Modi-bashing exercise by Congress leaders outside Vigyan Bhavan, the venue of the meet. Shivraj Singh Chouhan was the lone BJP Chief Minister in the NIC meeting, which was also attended by veteran BJP leader lK Advani.
TDP chief and former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu walked out of the meet in protest against the move to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh. During the meeting, which was convened to discuss the growing incidents of communal violence, attack on women and atrocities on SCs and STs, Naidu wanted to raise the issue of Telangana and bring Central Government’s attention to the continuous protests in Seemandhra region against the bifurcation move.
However, Modi’s absence became the talking point of the meet. “He purposely didn’t come because he didn’t want to face uncomfortable questions,” said RJD chief lalu Prasad Yadav.
Raking up the 2002 Gujarat riots to drive home his point at the NIC meet, lalu said, “I see India being polarised before 2014. Amit Shah, who was the manager of Gujarat riots, is responsible for the Uttar Pradesh riots. He has now reached Bihar. I see riots across the country,” he said.
“Why someone has not come, that person can respond best. But the understanding is that if you are serious and dedicated to national integration and want to maintain communal harmony, you would attend the NIC meeting and lend your voice,” said I&B Minister Manish Tewari. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajiv Shukla termed Modi as egoistic and said the BJP leader had only time to address US citizens.
“He is already so egoistic that he thinks that all of these meetings are useless, and that he is supreme. Narendra Modi has time to address US citizens, but does not have time to address discussions on internal harmony, peace, law and order of the country,” Shukla said.
“At a meeting at which all the Chief Ministers of the country were present, Narendra Modi could not find time to attend it. One can only imagine what he would do if, god forbid, he comes into a more important position of power in the country,” he added.
Away from the NIC meet also Modi continued to be the talking point. The Government hit back at Modi for his Sunday’s comparison between the sliding growth rate under Congress-led coalition Government and the robust figure posted by the previous NDA regime.
Meanwhile, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday called Modi’s claim as “fake encounter with facts” and quoted figures to suggest the “average (growth rate) for the six year period (of NDA) was 6 per cent and the average for the last five years was 5.9 per cent”.
In contrast, the average growth rate during Congress-led UPA’s first term was 8.4 per cent and 7.3 per cent during the first four years of UPA-II, he said. BJP’s deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad claimed Chidambaram’s statement on the observations made by Modi was not only factually incorrect and being economical with truth, but is a glaring case of resorting to fake encounters with facts. “This is the expression he has used against Modi, but on the contrary it squarely applies to him,” Prasad said.
In his inaugural speech, the Prime Minister urged the political parties to refrain from taking advantage out of communal tensions. Stressing the role in maintaining law and order, he said the States should crack down on elements of fanning communal violence, irrespective of their political affiliations or influence.
“The State Government should lose no time to control communal violence sternly. The local administration should prevent a small issue from snowballing into a huge controversy and arrest those responsible for spreading it,” Singh said inaugurating the 16th NIC meeting.
“The State should use all means at its disposal to punish those guilty for fanning communal violence and ensure a speedy crackdown on such elements irrespective of their political affiliations or influence,” the Prime Minister said.
“I appeal to parties and media that they should refrain from giving any political colour or taking any political mileage from such incidents,” Singh said, in the meeting convened in the wake of Muzaffarnagar communal violence which claimed nearly 50 lives and displaced thousands of people.
Media was asked to leave the hall, after the speeches of Prime Minister and Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. later the meeting premises became the sound byte giving of the UPA managers to TV channels. The main focus was on anti-Modi campaign kick started by the Finance Minister P Chidambaram, I&B Minister Manish Tewari and RJD leader lalu Prasad Yadav.
In his opening remarks, Shinde voiced concerns over rise in incidents of communal violence and suggested that “there is a sinister motive behind such clashes and attempts are being made to polarise the society.”
He said statistics on the communal violence show an increasing trend in the last two years and minor incidents tend to get escalated into major incidents of violence leading to displacement of affected communities.
“The frequency of incidents, especially in the last few months, seems to suggest that there is a sinister motive behind them. It is noticed that the communal forces seem to have got emboldened and are trying to polarise the society,” said Shinde.