E-Paper
Minuscule section hit by ‘radicalisation’: MHA
Among the steps taken to curb radicalisation, the home ministry said the government has ensured constitutional safeguards to minorities and made institutional efforts to ensure fair representation of minorities and other less-represented communities in all spheres of life
Some foreign agencies inimical to India along with global terrorist groups have been making efforts to radicalise people but “inclination towards radical ideologies is minuscule”, the ministry of home affairs (MHA) told Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
“Radicalisation by the global terrorist groups like ISIS, al Qaeda etc. is one of the most challenging problems faced by countries all over the world. In the Indian context, some foreign agencies inimical to India along with global terrorist groups have been making efforts to radicalise people. However, inclination towards radical ideologies is minuscule as compared to the population of the country owing to various factors and efforts by the government,” Union minister of state for home affairs Nityanand Rai said in a written reply.
The government also listed various factors and efforts taken by the government to check efforts to radicalise people.
Rai added that to curb the radicalisation, the government was ensuring universal coverage of various welfare schemes without discrimination, introduced special schemes for un-served and underserved communities and areas and promoted composite culture and coexistence among various communities.
Besides, Rai said, the government has ensured constitutional safeguards to minorities, institutional efforts have been made to ensure fair representation of minorities and other less-represented communities in all spheres of life, while adding there is an exclusive ministry of minorities affairs for overall policy, coordination, evaluation and review of the regulatory and development programs of the minority communities.
Subsequently, the reply stated, that “apart from the above, the government has created a Counter Terrorism and Counter Radicalisation Division in the MHA to help and coordinate with various security and law enforcement agencies.”
The minister’s detailed response to the question by two BJP members, Mala Rajya Laxmi Shah who represents Uttarakhand’s Tehri Garwal and Pushpendra Singh Chandel from Uttar Pradesh’s Hamirpur, comes weeks after the Union home ministry ordered the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to take over the probe into the murder of the tailor Kanhaiya Lal on June 28 in Udaipur and hacking of a pharmacist Umesh Kolhe in Maharashtra’s Amravati on June 21 following the controversial comments by two former BJP spokespersons Nupur Sharma and Naveen Kumar Jindal. Several radical groups, terror organizations and individuals, through social media, have threatened to avenge the insult to the Prophet since then.
