This is a gist of the speech by the former Chairman of the National Minorities Commission Shri Tarlochan Singh in the Rajya Sabha
The President'sAddress is injustice to the history in a way when he said that 1857 was the first war of Independence. Earlier also so many wars of Independence were fought. We can take the names of Dr. Sir Jadunath, Dr. R.C. Majumdar, DR. Sunder Nath Sen etc. Shivaji also fought against Mughal'sand Maharana Pratap also fought. All these wars were the symbol of freedom. First anglo-Sikh war was fought in 1845. 100th birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh is going to fall on 27th September this year but the Government is sleeping. Is it so that Shaheed Bhagat Singh had played no role in the struggle of Independence? Only Satyagraha is being worshiped.
?Secularism? has found place in address of the Hon?ble President. But who is breaking secularism. A new slogan is coined every day about secularism. A Bill was brought to give Constitutional status to the Minority Commission. But after two years, the Bill is seen no where. Whether it has been withdrawn or the Government does not want to bring it again. A Minority Ministry has since been formed by the UPA government. But what the minorities have gained from this. After one year, we have seen a news item that the Ministry has acquired its own office. A good man, who was earlier the Chief Minister of a State, is wasting his time in the Ministry. What the Ministry has done during a period of last one year?
There is a Ministry for Minority, Minority Commission and in addition to that there are four Committees. What does the Minority mean? Minority means only a particular community. In the name of secularism, the Government is dividing the society. Communal feelings are being spread in the name of secularism. Sachchar Committee has written that if the minorities are better in Bangladesh and Pakistan, then why they are coming to India? This means that we are ahead of these two countries. Only this Government is telling that they are backward. I never saw any Islamic School in my district whereas Sikhs have a number of schools there. The Government should call a meeting of muslim scholars and discuss the matter of their backwardness and take a decision to improve their condition. If a community has its own entrepreneurship, no body on earth can stop them from improving. But the UPA Government is ruling the country in the name of secularism.
For the first time, we have seen in Punjab that Sikhs and Hindus fought together and won without using the name of religion. The Congress used the name of religion and lost the election. The Congress has displayed one advertisement with the photo of Gandhiji in Sirsa in Haryana. We also respect Gandhiji but never used his photo for any electoral gains.
I want to say one more thing which is about NCERT. Every government want to teach the students its own theory. We should decide it once for all by sitting together and discuss it. We should decide that what is to be taught or what is not to be taught. Text books should not be changed so frequently on the mercy of political babudoms. After all we have the history of more than 5,000 years and we all came from that. We have to maintain that rich cultural heritage.
I regret that a meeting of National Integration Council was convened after a long gap. All the leaders including Prime Minster and ex-Prime Minister Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee attended the meeting. We can take a decision and come to the conclusion for a permanent solution. I also want to raise a point on population explosion. No political party have a courage to say about this. Unless, we control the population which is 28-29 per cent today, we cannot prosper. At the same time we should also control price rise by producing more grains. I am happy that former Agriculture Secretary to the Government of India Dr. M.S. Gill and former Governor of Reserve Bank of India are the Members of this House. We can use their experience and knowledge. If they are allowed to deliver special lectures, then the country would be benefited.
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