The minister was at a function at SSB Academy, Srinagar Garhwal, and said that no one was insecure in India, irrespective of what religion he or she belonged. Religious tolerance was an innate characteristic of Indian culture, eh said. “Religious tolerance is inbuilt in our culture. No one is insecure in this country, no matter which religion he or she belongs to,” Singh said. “Many religions with their various sects coexist in India. Inclusiveness and the spirit of peaceful coexistence is the most outstanding feature of our cultural heritage,” he added.
Singh’s comment came in response to a question from reporters about Obama’s comments at the National Prayer Meeting, that recent events of religious intolerance in India would have shocked Mahatma Gandhi. Obama was at Washington DC on February 6, 2015.
Obama, who was the chief guest at India’s Republic Day, this year on January 26, had also commented briefly during his final address in India, about the future of India being dependent on maintaining religious tolerance. Singh had also responded earlier, along with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and said that “aberrations” did not alter India’s history of tolerance.
India, though diverse in religious demography for several centuries, has been in the limelight recently for various religious tensions. Singh had said, “as far as religious tolerance is concerned, it is embedded in our Indian tradition. India is the only country in the world where all the communities including various divisions of Muslims and all sects of Christians are present. In India, Parsis and Jewish people are also there. The biggest specialty of the Indian culture has been that there has never been discrimination on the basis of caste, community, religion or sect,”
