Involve social, religious groups including NGOs in deradicalization efforts: Rajnath

New Delhi, April 12: The Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has said social and religious groups including NGOs and Women’s Organizations must be actively involved in de-radicalization efforts. Chairing the 21st Meeting of the Governing Council of the National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH) here today, despite being the second most populous country, India has been negligibly affected by radicalization. Full credit for this goes to the minorities and their religious leaders and the composite culture and traditions of our country, he added.
Rajnath Singh said communal harmony is an issue that concerns not only Ministry of Home Affairs alone, but everybody has a stake in it and it is a characteristic of our entire nation. He said we should leverage the digital platform to promote communal harmony and asked for proper narratives to be developed for the social media. The Union Home Minister assured that he will visit Ajmer Sharif soon accompanied by members of NFCH Governing Council to promote the spirit of communal harmony that this shrine symbolises.
Rajnath Singh said we are the fastest growing economy in the world and among the top ten largest economies in the world. As we aim to break into the top five and eventually emerge among the top three economies, our growth should not be hampered by terrorism.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister for Textiles and Information & Broadcasting, Smt. Smriti Irani said the Government is committed to promoting communal harmony despite certain mischievous elements attempting to create a wrong perception of the communal situation in the country. She said the NBT and Directorate of Publications Division will organize exhibitions and sale of books sensitizing communal harmony in sensitive areas.
Religious and social leaders, who are members of the NFCH Governing Council, also gave their valuable suggestions on fostering communal harmony in the country. There were various suggestions for addressing the issue of communal harmony like revisiting the role and structure of NFCH, augmentation of its budget, enhancement of inter-faith dialogues, organising international conferences, symposia, publication and exhibition of books, documentaries and television programmes and promotion of communal harmony through social media. Other suggestions included the convergence of related schemes of various ministries promoting communal harmony, organizing conferences, poetic recitations and music concerts in the universities, academic institutions and in the public fora. It was also highlighted that the school children and the dropouts should be targeted for inculcating values of social harmony.
Home Minister agreeing with the most of the suggestions decided that he would form some committees including the members of the Council to cull out actionable points for formalizing them in the form of final decisions.