Is tolerance, acceptance of dissent on the wane, asks President

He said humanism and pluralism should not be abandoned under any circumstances

At a time when the issue of free speech has dominated public discourse in India, President Pranab Mukherjee on Monday expressed a fear on whether tolerance and acceptance of dissent were on the wane.

The President made the remarks while addressing a gathering in Birbhum district of West Bengal at a function organised by a local weekly newspaper, Nayaprajanma, and a cultural organisation, Suri Sabujer Abhijan.

The President, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan press release, said humanism and pluralism should not be abandoned under any circumstance and people should harness their collective strength to resist evil powers in society.

This is the third time the President has voiced concerns about rising intolerance in the country in the last three weeks. His comments come in the wake of a Hindu mob lynching a 52-year-old Muslim in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh, on September 28 on the suspicion that he had consumed beef and attack by Shiv Sainiks on former Bharatiya Janata Party member Sudheendra Kulkarni for being part of the launch of a book authored by Pakistan politician Khurshid Kasuri.

In recent days, several writers have also returned their Sahitya Akademi and Padma awards to protest the growing intolerance and the killing of Kannada writer KM Kalburgi and rationalist Govind Pansare.

On Monday, the Board of Control for Cricket in India cancelled the scheduled talks between its president, Shashank Manohar, and Pakistan Cricket Board chief Shahryar Khan to plan an India-Pakistan cricket series in December, after Shiv Sena activists stormed BCCI headquarters.

In Delhi, members of the Hindu Sena threw ink on Jammu and Kashmir MLA Rashid Engineer for having organised a beef party last week.

At the Birbhum event, the President “reminded the audience of the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa: Jato mat, tato path” (As there are a number of beliefs, there are a number of ways).

He said: “Humanism and pluralism should not be abandoned under any circumstance. Assimilation through receiving is a characteristic of Indian society. Our collective strength must to be harnessed to resist evil powers in society.”

The President said Indian civilization has survived for 5,000 years because of its tolerance. It has always accepted dissent and differences. “A large number of languages, 1,600 dialects and seven religions coexist in India. We have a Constitution that accommodates all these differences,” he said.

“On the eve of Durga Puja celebrations, the President greeted the people and expressed the hope that Mahamaya, the combination of all positive forces would eliminate the Asuras or divisive forces,” the press release quoted him as saying.

On October 7, the President told a gathering at Rashtrapati Bhavan that India “must remain true to its civilisational values”. A day later, Mukherjee, in an interview to a Jordanian newspaper on the eve of his visit to that country, said, “Leaders of every country, every belief, every neighbourhood need to take a clear and public stand against intolerance of any kind.”

The President further said that "hate speech and fear mongering should come to an end", that "we must amplify the voice of moderation" and "we should not permit religion to be used as a mask to satisfy hunger for power and control of some individuals".

Nearly a 100 writers and intellectuals from Bengal wrote to the President last week, requesting him to intervene after the Dadri incident and attacks on rationalists in Maharashtra and Karnataka.