Mutual trust can combat communal violence: Mulayam

Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav Thursday pitched for building mutual trust between communities to stop incidents of communal violence in the country.

Participating in a discussion on communal violence in the Lok Sabha, Mulayam Singh directly blamed the ruling BJP for incidents of communal violence in Uttar Pradesh.

"I am talking about policies. Communal peace has been broken by their (the government) policies," he said, asking for the setting up of an all-party committee to look into such incidents.

He said: "Minorities have contributed to the progress of the country. Eighty percent of the progress of the country has been due to farmers and Muslims."

"Minorities have to be given facilities for their development. A message has to go that mutual distrust should be done away with," the Samajwadi Party chief said.

The debate which was initiated by Congress leader of the house Mallikarjun Kharge was concluded without the reply of union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, as he was unwell.

Both Kharge and Trinamool Congress MP Saugata Roy wished Rajnath Singh speedy recovery.

Trinamool MP Sugata Bose said: "Incidents of communal violence should be nipped in the bud".

"We are not against religion, but only against religious prejudice and bigotry."

Aam Admi Party member Bhagwant Mann said people's trust was being eroded due to the rising incidents of communal violence.