Peace in India essential for economic growth, development: Former PM Manmohan Singh

The former prime minister was speaking at a national conference to mark the 125th birth anniversary of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru organised by the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Comparative Studies.

Speaking of Nehru’s vision, Dr Singh said the timeless insight of Jawaharlal Nehru that there will be no peace without freedom; and no freedom without peace is as fresh and relevant to the world in 2015 as it was when it was written by Nehru, half a century ago.

“Peace and freedom have poignant depth and meaning for my generation, the generation that lived through partition – that incomparable holocaust of hatred in which both peace and freedom were lost for so many.”

Speaking on what is widely being termed as intolerance across the country, Dr Singh said unity and respect for diversity, secularism and pluralism were vital for the survival of the Republic.

“The nation is deeply concerned at the recent tragic instances of blatant violations of the right to freedom of thought, belief, speech and expression in our country by some violent extremist groups. The assault or murder of thinkers for no more than disagreement with their views, or because of the food they eat, or their caste, cannot be justified on any grounds. Nor can the suppression of the right to dissent be allowed. All right thinking people in the country have condemned such incidents in the strongest terms as an assault on the nation,” Dr Singh said.

“To maintain and strengthen the rich diversity that is our Indian Republic, we must maintain unvarnished our ancient civilizational committment to respect and honour – and appreciate – diversity, pluralism and communal harmony.”

Also present at the conference were professor Irfan Habib, senior Congress leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma, AK Antony, and senior journalist Kumar Ketkar.