'Response of govt seems to indicate indifference': Ex-navy chief writes heartfelt open letter to PM Modi

Former chief of the Indian Navy and former internal Lokpal of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Admiral (retd) Laxminarayan Ramdas has written a heartfelt open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking him to direct his government to take action to prevent the spread of religious intolerance in the country.

“My religion taught me values of love and respect for all beings. My brand of Hinduism was not filled with the kind of violence, intolerance represented by the current brand of “Hindutva” that seems to be fanning the flames of division and fear across the country,” Ramdas wrote in his open letter to the PM .

He also said that people from minority communities, especially Muslims, were being asked to repeatedly prove their loyalty to the nation. He said their places of worship was under attack and they were even being targeted for their eating habits.

Ramdas added that the more disturbing fact, however, is that “Sadly, time and time again, the response of the government seems to indicate an almost studied, but certainly not benign, indifference . The co-ordinated response of those in government seems to be to downplay the serious and vicious nature of these allegations and attacks – by terming them ‘sad’ and ‘unfortunate’ – whereas there should be outrage and a demonstrated will to ensure that this society will not tolerate such behaviour.”

The ex-navy chief also pointed out that there were MPs and cabinet ministers were leading the way in making provocative comments.

Ramdas’ open letter comes on the same day on which Prime Minister Modi, through his Mann Ki Baat address on radio, said that diversity of religions and castes is the beauty of India and that the ‘mantra’ of unity should be carried forward through thinking and expressions.

Invoking Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel ahead of his birth anniversary, he strongly batted for ‘unity in diversity’ while asserting that peace, harmony and unity are the key to progress.

“The mantra of unity should always be the medium of our thinking, our behaviour and expression,” Modi said.

“India is full of diversity. It has different sects, different religions, different languages and different castes. There are so many diversities in our India and this diversity is our beauty,” the Prime Minister said in his 35-minute programme.

He said if this diversity was not there, “we would not have been able to feel proud. Therefore, diversity is the mantra of unity.”

Mentioning the upcoming birth anniversary of Patel on 31 October, Modi said, “Let us pay tribute to Sardar (Patel) Sahab. Take the unity mantra forward.”

With inputs from PTI