Rejecting the claims in some quarters that “a climate of intolerance” is prevailing in India, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has expressed the view that such a misperception could be due to some stray incidents or comments getting blown up in sections of the media.
Jaitley, who spoke to Indian reporters on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank meetings that he is currently attending here, said it would not be proper to project the stray happenings as though the country is gripped by an “environment of intolerance”.
In a country as large as India, there could always be a handful of people reacting “aggressively and disproportionately” to events on either side of the political spectrum, Jaitley said while replying to a question. But, he added, that the “loose comments and improper statements” by these individuals “does not mean that there is any such (intolerant) activity on the ground”.
When his attention was drawn to a specific incident of hanging of two cattle-traders in Jharkhand last month, he denounced it as “bad” and “terrible”, but said such happenings were “extremely rare” in the country. Historically, however, stray
incidents of the type have taken place, Jaitley added.
Replying to a question on the recovery of thousands of crores that absconding liquor baron Vijay Mallya owes to Government-owned banks, Jaitley said the banks are taking all possible steps on this score, while investigating agencies are examining whether there have been violations of penal provisions.
The External Affairs Ministry has, as a first step, suspended the diplomatic passport issued Mallya as a Member of Parliament.
Jaitley, who took up with the US authorities the issue of “discriminatory” visa fee hike targeting Indian IT companies, said he has been told by the Obama administration that it is bound by legislation passed by US Congress.
A provision for a special fee of up to $4,500 on H-1B and l-1 visas was inserted by Congress into its must-pass $1.1 trillion spending Bill last year, with the proceeds geared to part-fund a 9/11 health care act and biometric tracking system.
The Finance Minister is currently on a week-long tour of the US primarily to attend the Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank here, to be followed by an address to a “Make in India” event jointly sponsored by CII and Asia Society in New York on Monday.