Several civil society groups and minority organisations today called upon the government to take action against "motivated hate and violence campaigns" targeting religious minorities while pitching for "zero tolerance" instead of a "moratorium" to end communal violence.
The organisations also released a report about the state of minorities during the 100 days of the Narendra Modi government in which it was alleged that over 600 incidents targeted at religious minorities have taken place from May to September 2014 in several parts of the country.
"Narendra Modi, has not yet spoken about, much less condemned, the hate campaign against Muslims and Christian communities in India carried out by cadres of the non-state actor, the 'socio-cultural' Sangh Parivar," a statement released by the organisations said.
The report said that inevitably, this has led to much violence.
In the first few weeks of the new government, by its own admission, a total of 113 communal incidents have taken place in various parts of the country during May-June in which 15 people were killed and 318 others were injured, Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju had told Rajya Sabha.
Many of the incidents of violence were directed against individuals and places of worship of the Muslim community, especially in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, the report said.
The rapid vanishing of tolerance and secularism from public space in recent months has disturbed thinkers, analysts and commentators in the country who see this as encouraging hate speech and targeted violence, speakers at the public meeting where the report was released said.
The organisations demanded zero tolerance against communal and targeted violence, including hate crimes, profiling and attacks on freedom of faith as enshrined in the Constitution of India.
During the public function, a street play was also performed by students of Mount Carmel School depicting how love, compassion and tolerance can end prejudice, dogma and discrimination in the society.
