There is 'some amount' of intolerance, says Naidu

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said there was "some amount" of intolerance in the society which has to be identified and dealt with firmly, instead of generalising it.

Without referring to any particular incident, Naidu participating in the debate in Rajya Sabha, said people making out of turn statements should be condemned, isolated and disowned.

"There is some amount of intolerance in the society, in different areas. That has to be identified, it has to be localised, it has to be dealt with firmly. Instead of that, we are making it generalised," he said as he referred to instances of killing of dalits and writers in certain states.

He said incidents have not happened overnight after Narendra Modi became prime minister. "These things have been happening."

"Some people making out of turn statement, we have to condemn, we have to isolate them... they have to be condemned and disowned," he said. He welcomed senior Congress leader P Chidambaram's statement that banning of Salman Rushdie's controversial novel 'The Satanic Verses' was "wrong".

"Sir, there are two things, one people writing the books, they should not affect the sentiments of the people, they should not arouse social tension, but at the same time, freedom of expression and freedom of speech, peole have got right. But there has to be broad consensus about how do we go about it," he said.

While banning Rushdie's book draws cheers, the same on a book on Shivaji draws protests, he said, adding that "there are different angles are coming, Hindu angle, Muslim angle."

"Let there be policy for banning books, or films," he said. Naidu said "let us all be tolerant to each other and than tolerant to verdict of the people. ... Respecting the mandate of the people was the biggest form of tolerance."

Giving an example, he said 'x' has been mandated to rule Tamil Nadu, 'y' mandated to rule West Bengal. "We have to respect it."

Similarly, the mandate of people of Bihar to Nitish Kumar with support of Lalu Prasad has to be respected. "There is no choice," he said.

Naidu appealed for a broad consensus among political parties, rising above narrow point-scoring about achievements of one government over the other.

After 68 years of independence, genuine concerns agitating the minds should be addressed. Instead "we are scoring political points," he said. "I dont want to score political points... This day, we have to ponder over where we are lagging, what are the shortcomings," he said calling for a dialogue and consensus between the opposition and government. "Let us debate, discuss and decide."

He said if there is tolerance, Parliament can function. The founding fathers of Constitution envisaged "uniformity of law both civil and criminal," he said, posing whether India was in "a position to work out a common law with regard to marriage, inheritance and divorce."

He went on to ask whether justice had been done to gender equality and said even when all parties are in favour of women's reservation, "why has it not happened."

"Let us not be hypocritical," he said, adding that ringing an issue in the agenda is not important. "Unless there is consensus, it is difficult to go" ahead. aidu also said that the challenge was to bridge regional disparities.

Referring to the National Judicial Appointments Commission, he said the Supreme Court had struck down a law passed by Parliament unanimously. "The House in collective wisdom passed it... nowhere in the world, judges appoint themselves," he said, adding if the collegium system was fine, why are changes being sought in it.

Also, there were regional aspirations like having a bench of the Supreme Court in the South, he said, adding that some cases suddenly get priority but not the cases of common man.