Srinagar, May 29:
National Conference (NC) president Farooq Abdullah on Wednesday said the secular visage of the country was reeling under the threat from the surge of communalism. Abdullah, who won the just-concluded Lok Sabha election from the Srinagar constituency, said the need of the hour was collective efforts for the protection of religious freedom and rule of law in the country. “The spur in the targeted attacks on Muslims at various places across north India is just painful. The rise of communalism in India has to be countered by all the right-thinking secular parties of the country,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said while interacting with various delegations here. He said if the fascist syndrome of communal strife was allowed to grow unchecked, it would eventually munch the secular fabric of our society, which was otherwise known for tolerance. “The strife of communal hatred is one of the biggest challenges for our society. It is for the new government to decide if they want to let the mammoth of communalism grow unhindered. The idea of development is impossible if 25 crore Muslims are not a part of that story,” Abdullah said. He asserted that the government could not think of taking the country forward without taking along the Muslims.
“Now we get to see Muslim men and women being attacked by unruly mobs across the country. The other day, we saw how a Muslim boy was thrashed for wearing a skull cap. Is this the idea of India that was envisaged by the makers of our Constitution? The biggest challenge ahead of the central government would be to stop such incidents from recurring,” the former Union minister said.
