rediff.com: Growing intolerance worries Vajpayee

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has expressed concern over the growing trend of intolerance in society, which, he said, must be checked.

"Diversity does not permit divisiveness or exclusiveness. Similarly, unity cannot be achieved through uniformity," he said.

"In this context, I must confess that the growing trend of intolerance which I see in our society today worries me deeply. This trend must be checked," he said in the second part of his article for newspapers, 'My Musings from Kumarakom -- II', written during his holiday in Kerala.

Vajpayee said India belonged equally to all her citizens and communities, not more to some and less to others. At the same time, all citizens and communities had an equal duty to strengthen national unity and integrity and to contribute to the country's progress.

"In recent times, there has been a tendency to focus more on one's rights and less on one's duties. This must change," he said.

The prime minister said that throughout India's long history, its unity was nurtured by an ethos of secularism that taught people to tolerate one another's customs, traditions and beliefs and to respect them.

"Mutual tolerance and understanding leads to goodwill and co-operation which in turn strengthens the silken bond of our national unity. Secularism is not an alien concept that we imported out of compulsion after Independence. Rather, it is an integral and natural feature of our national culture and ethos," he wrote.

The prime minister said it was both strange and disconcerting that the polity was sought to be divided between "secular" and "communal" parties.

"Indian people do not give their mandate to any party or a coalition that does not follow a secular, inclusive and integrative agenda. To think otherwise is to disparage our people's democratic intelligence," he said.

Leaving non-issues behind, the prime minister said, politics and governance in India should be redirected towards achieving faster, more balanced and more equitable socio-economic development.

Paying tribute to the power of Indian democracy that an "ordinary" man like him could become prime minister, he said, "The days of dynasties are over."

"I am one of those fortunate people in public life who have not only observed but also participated in the evolution of independent India from 1947 till now," he said.

As a student, he said, he had taken part in the freedom movement and as a young man he had seen Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru unfurl the national flag at the Red Fort at that immortal midnight hour on August 15.

"Little did I know that just after a decade, I would be sitting with him in Parliament discussing and debating the affairs of the nation. It's a tribute to the power of India's democracy that an ordinary man like me, son of a village teacher, has since been called upon to serve the nation as its prime minister," he said.


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