"We have a different culture in our country and that culture does not allow their activities to be successful"
Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said Friday the strong nationalistic approach and culture of the Indian people have successfully defeated terrorist groups like Islamic State and al Qaeda from finding a foothold in the country.
The minister for minority affairs said the people of India have ensured the subversive activities of the terrorist organisations do not find acceptance in the country.
"We have a different culture in our country and that culture does not allow their activities to be successful. In counties like the US, ISIS has been able to establish deep roots but not so in India where our culture fights them," he asserted. One of the most dreaded terrorist groups, the Islamic State declared its caliphate in Iraq and Syria in June 2014. Since then, it has conducted or inspired a number of attacks, including mass shootings and knife attacks, around the world.
In the US, investigators have said they have found that attackers involved in planning or carrying out some of the mass shootings in the country were inspired by the terrorist group. The Indian government has repeatedly said that ISIS has no base in India. Asked about the possible presence of another terrorist group, the Hizbul-Mujahideen, in Assam after the arrest of an operative from the state in Uttar Pradesh and several of his associates in Assam, Naqvi said, "They are isolated cases and do not have any impact." "Action against jihadi activities will be taken as per the law," the minister said during an interaction with journalists after a coordination meeting of ministers and government officials of various states in Guwahati.
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, ministers and senior government officials from the northeastern states and Odisha, West Bengal and Jharkhand attended the meeting.When the Union minister's attention was drawn to the alleged failure of state governments in the northeast in giving benefits to minority communities, Naqvi said, "All the six notified minority communities will get all benefits". He said it was a different matter who is a minority or a majority in a particular state, and cited the example of minority community Sikhs, who are a majority in Punjab, and Christians, who are a majority in Nagaland. "Our effort is to include all," he said.
"Our commitment is empowerment without appeasement, development without discrimination," Naqvi added.
He said the low literacy rate among minorities, especially women, is a matter of concern. "In the entire north and northeast, the rate drops. To address the issue, priority will be given to increasing the number of schools and scholarships for minority communities". Naqvi said the central government previously focussed on selected regions for development and other regions - especially the northeast and other remote areas, were neglected.
"But the Modi government has broken the barriers of regional and social imbalance in terms of development and connected all the ignored and neglected backward areas of the country with the mainstream development process," he stressed.
Naqvi said the Modi government has demolished the "vote bank politics" and furthered "nationalistic politics". The Union minister promised that the government would establish a "world-class educational institute" in Assam soon.
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