
The Government planned to introduce a Bill to promote communal harmony but the move has not succeeded because some minority communities have reservations over it, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday.
“We prepared a Bill on communal harmony. The Bill was submitted to Parliament but several minority groups came back and said this is not a legislation that is to our liking,” he said, adding that due to lack of consensus, the government had to halt the move.
“This was a legislation meant to apply some balm on the communal situation, but if the minority communities say they are not satisfied, if NGOs said they were not very happy, so there is this delay and we have not been able to resolve these tensions,” Singh told reporters travelling with him to Japan and China.
Commenting on the Armed Forces Special Powers, Singh said it is true that in the wake of the Manipur agitation, the government had appointed a group to study the situation.
“But quite honestly, the situation in the North East, the situation in Manipur, even the government of Manipur which has withdrawn the Armed Forces Special Powers Act being applied to Imphal is also of the view that this cannot be done away with until the situation improves.
“We have problems in Jammu and Kashmir, we have problems in North East, therefore, I cannot take these risks with the security of our country,” he added.