No religion teaches terrorism, says PM Narendra Modi in Brussels

Brussels: In the wake of recently carried out dastardly terror attacks in Brussels, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday night said that India has never and will never bent down before terrorism.

Addressing a huge gathering of Indian diaspora, PM Modi said, “India has not bent before terrorism, and there is no question of bending.”

 Further urging the world to unite for fight against terrorism, he said, “The world needs to unite against terrorism and should stop differentiation between good terror and bad terror. Terrorism is a challenge for humankind, not just any one country or region. Those who believe in humanity should join together to tackle terrorism,” said Modi to a cheering crowd.

“But the challenge is a huge one. I have spoken to many important leaders, including religious ones, and explained them of the need to delink terror from religion. No religion teaches terrorism,” he said.

PM:Terrorism must be delinked from religion. No religion teaches terrorism. This message resonated from the World Sufi Forum held in Delhi — Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) March 30, 2016

Before beginning his speech, he also observed two-minute silence for those who lost their closed ones in March 22 Brussels terror bombings.

He said the United Nations faces the danger of becoming irrelevant if it fails to tackle terrorism.

“In recent days in India, liberal Islamic scholars held a big meeting, linked to Sufism… They said those who speak of terror are un-Islamic. The more such voices rise, the faster the radicalisation of youth can be prevented. Can’t tackle terrorism with only bombs and guns. Misfortune of the world is that the UN does not know how to tackle terrorism,” he said.

He said the UN was born out of war and is unable to look beyond it. “Don’t know when the UN will tackle terrorism, or how. But seeing the conditions that prevail, it faces the danger of becoming irrelevant. It needs to go along with the times,” he said.

Modi said that during his numerous meetings the entire day, with the Belgian leadership and with the EU, the centre point of talks was terrorism.

He also listed out his government’s achievements, stating it is his responsibility to apprise public about his government's work.

“We don't believe in vote bank politics. We work for the welfare of them too who do not vote for us,” said Modi.

(With IANS inputs)