President cautions against forces promoting violence

President cautions against forces promoting violence
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

NEW DELHI, JULY 12: President K R Narayanan today cautioned against ``fissiparous and disharmonising forces'', which were promoting the cult of violence and asked Governors to make concerted efforts to contain these disturbing trends.

``The Governors should therefore act as a harmonising influence and play a crucial role in upholding India's traditional heritage of a tolerant society,'' he said, while inaugurating a two-day conference of Governors and Lt Governors at the Rashtrapati Bhavan here.

Participating in the deliberations, several Governors stressed on the need for coordinated efforts between the states and the Centre to tackle problems like cross-border terrorism which included smuggling of weapons, drug trafficking, infiltration and spread of religious fundamentalism.

The conference, being attended by 25 Governors and three Lt Governors, as also Vice-President Krishan Kant, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his cabinet colleagues, was held in-camera.

Narayanan said there has been ``a lowering of the tolerance level in the society and the emerging cult of violence'', even though the nation had achieved new heights in the realm of economic and technological developments which had caught world attention, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan release.

In this context, he quoted Mahatma Gandhi saying that Governors ``must be an all-pervasive moral influence in their provinces''.

The President stressed that the fruits of development needs to percolate down and reach the common man so as to promote the total good of the society. In the economic and social development of the people lies the answer to the law and order problem in the society, he said.

Referring to the special responsibilities entrusted upon the Governors by the Constitution, he urged them to take all possible steps towards the upliftment of the disinherited and the poor.

Narayanan emphasised that in this endeavour, there was a need to mobilise grass-root activism and to promote decentralisation of efforts.