'Demand for preference narrow minded approach'

A day after five JD(U) MPs resigned from LS on the issue of attacks on north Indians in M'rashtra, Shivraj Patil said that people who ask for preferential treatment within a particular state are "narrow minded".

A day after five JD(U) MPs resigned from Lok Sabha on the issue of attacks on north Indians in Maharashtra, Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Saturday said that people who ask for preferential treatment within a particular state are "narrow minded".

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"At times we find that people say that we speak a particular kind of language, we are born in a particular state and so we should be given preference over others. That approach is really a narrow minded approach," Patil said while addressing a group of girl students from Arunachal Pradesh at his residence.

"And it cannot help anyone of us. United we are stronger, divided we are definitely weaker," Patil told the girls, many of whom have come to the national capital for the first time, on an educational trip organised by the ITBP.

Urging youngsters to explore the country, he said, "If you do not go out of your own state, you tend to feel that the place where you are born is the most beautiful and other places are not equally beautiful and attractive and that creates misunderstanding between people living in different parts of the country."

The 21 girls, hailing from West Kameng, Tezu, Lohit, Changlang and West Siang districts of Arunachal Pradesh had earlier visited the Taj Mahal in Agra, Parliament House, India Gate, Lotus temple, India Habitat Centre among others.