Debate on intolerance: Members in Lok Sabha pitch for peace, harmony

NEW DELHI: Members in the Lok Sabha today deprecated attempts to take political benefit out of incidents of intolerance and underlined the need for ensuring peace and harmony in the country.

Participating in the resumed debate on the issue of intolerance, they underlined the need for everyone to show maturity and sensitivity to nip in the bud any attempts to tear the social fabric.

Without naming any party, Jayadev Galla (TDP) attacked those resorting to votebank politics and accused them of misusing words like 'secularism' and 'intolerance' to further their cause.

"How can incapacity of the concerned state governments (in stopping acts of intolerance) result in the failure of the Prime Minister and the Home Minister," he questioned.

Insisting that incidents like Dadri lynching case and murders of rationalists M M Kalburgi and Narendra Dabholkar were "not acceptable", he said, however, that since law and order is a state issue, the governments concerned should take action.

Gajanan Kirtikar ( Shiv Sena) raised a number of questions wondering as to how anyone protesting against cow slaughter or conversion be dubbed as intolerant.

He claimed that in the present situation, protests against rolling out the "red carpet" to artistes and writers from Pakistan could not be termed as act of intolerance.

P Kumar ( AIADMK) underlined the steps taken in Tamil Nadu to maintain communal harmony.