Communal incidents have declined under Modi govt: Naqvi

Addressing the inaugural session of the annual conference of state minority commissions here, Naqvi hailed the Modi government for creating an atmosphere wherein minorities are becoming part of the country's development process.

He, however, cautioned the political establishment of the country to remain alert and work with honesty for empowerment of minorities as he said that its accountability will be tested every six months when elections take place in some or the other parts of the country.

The minister also asserted that the constitutional rights of the minorities are absolutely safe and secure in the country and no one can weaken them.

There is a significant decline in communal incidents in the the NDA government's tenure of about 32 months and no major communal incident occurred during this period, he said.

The Narendra Modi-led government's "empowerment without appeasement" policy has created an atmosphere where minorities are also becoming part of the development process, he said.

To buttress his point, the minister said the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) received 2,638 complaints in 2013-14. During the next fiscal, the number of complaints came down to 1,995.

The Commission received 1,974 complaints in 2015-16 and until December 31, 2016, has obtained 1,288 grievances.

Most of these complaints were related to individual disputes.

"Still, we want to stop every single such incident which disturbs social fabric of the country," he said, reiterating that the NDA government has zero tolerance for such incident.

Naqvi said confidence can be created among the people only when communities feel they are equal partners of development of this country. .