UPA govt successful in mitigating fear among minorities: Tewari

Singapore: Continuing his attack on Narendra Modi, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Wednesday said the UPA government in 2004 had inherited an "India" that was scarred by a "state sponsored pogrom perpetrated against the largest minority" in Gujarat, but has been successful in mitigating their fear.

He said one of the foremost tasks of the UPA government was to reassure its citizens, especially the minorities that they would receive the fullest protection of the India state while persevering to bring the criminals who implemented this pogrom to justice. The minister was delivering the Fullerton Lecture at International Institute for Strategic Studies, Singapore. "The India that the UPA inherited was scarred by a state sponsored pogrom perpetrated against the largest minority in the west Indian state of Gujarat. Coming on the heels of the religious polarisation perpetuated in the late 1980`s and early 1990`s using Indian mythology as an anchor it put a severe strain on the pluralistic ethos of India," Tewari said. "Over the past years the UPA government has been successful in mitigating fear, maintaining peace and mainstreaming the minorities," he said. This has provided a fillip to economic activity as both people and the state have been able to concentrate their attention upon bread and butter issues, Tewari said. He said that since Independence, "the warp and the woof" of the `India story` has been consistently woven by the Congress around a pluralistic society aspiring for equity in the policy frameworks of governance. He also said the `India story` has been "by and large, consistent with this vision and understanding of India since the Congress has been heading the government for a better part of time over the past sixty years perhaps except intermittently for little over a decade when other formations were at the helm of the ship of state. He said the UPA had provided stability in its rule which has facilitated a silent revolution of empowerment that has engulfed India over the past decade.