NEW DELHI: The Indian Govt is thinking of long-term and short-term measures to tackle the communal situation and is issuing guidelines to state Govt to deal with communal riots in future.
Home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s announcement on the new measures came at end of the question hour when the House took up a question on the communal riots in the country recently.
The minister asserted that if the State governments, who were responsible for dealing with law and order, where firm the communal situation could be tackled, adding that it was unfortunate that the communal riots occurred mostly in the Congress (I) ruled states.
Apart from the existing guidelines for prevention of communal violence and giving forces support to the states, the minister said the national integration council was being reconstituted with a view to evolving national consensus on issues affecting emotional unity and communal harmony.
It was the resolve of the Govt that no efforts would be spared to guarantee full protection to the minorities and for promoting all round communal harmony in the country,
Sayeed singled out the Bihar Govt for its inept handling of the situation when the eastern Indian state witnessed widespread communal flare-up, especially in Bhagalpur. He charged the state government and the then chief minister of watching the situation for one month when innocent lives were lost in Bhagalpur.
The Bihar carnage followed classes when a religious procession, carrying stones for the foundation-laying ceremony at Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh, was blocked. The riots spread to a number of towns and claimed thousands of lives.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 5, 1990
