Put communal riots in the concurrent list: Antulay

New Delhi, June 20 : The Minorities Affairs Ministry wants communal riots to be separated from the general law and order issues, which are state subject, and be put in the concurrent list.

''Maintaining law and order is the responsibility of states, but violence that breaks out between communities has national repercussion, so requires a response at the national level,'' Minorities Affairs Minister A R Antulay said while talking to UNI.

Communal riots have the potential to disturb nation's peace and unity, so most often it becomes necessary for the Centre to intervene, but it is not done as the law and order is the responsibility of the state, he said.

This has happened several times to most disastrous consequences for the country, said Mr Antulay, especially referring to Gujarat riots.

The communal violence in Gujarat was a total failure of the state government, a grave dereliction of constitutional duty which should not have gone uncondoned, he said.

Mr Antulay, who has been Chief Minister of Maharashtra, said he was of the firm belief that riots could not take place if the authorities acted swiftly. And the authorities would act only if the political leadership was committed not to let riots take place.

''I can tell you from my experience in Maharashtra. During my tenure riots were firmly curbed. I would sternly tell the Chief Secretary of the state that it would not be tolerated, and he would make no mistake in getting the message right,'' he said.

The top leadership should be secular and unbiased only then, it can make the administration act without a bias towards every citizen, felt Mr Antulay.

Replying to a question, he said the mandate of his ministry was not to tolerate injustice against any minority whether it were Hindus in Kashmir, or Muslims in Gujarat or Christians in Madhya Pradesh.

It is not that only people following certain religions and speaking certain languages are a minority. Every linguistic and religious community is a minority in some part of the country.

''Who is not a minority in this multi-religion and multi-ethnic nation? The majority community is a minority in Kashmir, Hindi speaking people are in a minority in Punjab and Chennai,'' he said.
Mr Antulay said the common Indian was tolerant and peace loving. ''It is only a handful of people who thought on communal lines and created communal hatred,'' he said. ''The main job of my ministry is to promote national integration and that can be achieved if every section of the society felt that it was getting justice from the government, and I want my Ministry to play an effective role in securing justice for the people''said the Minister.

He, however, refused to comment on a recent Minorities Commission chairman demand for investing the Commission with investigative powers.

Replying to a question, he said his Ministry was working hard to make all government bodies for welfare and advancement of minorities worked efficiently and sincerely.

In this connection he referred to the working of the Waqf Boards and said the massive property in the hand of these boards had not been utilised properly for the welfare of Muslims.

''If the waqf properties are managed and utilised properly, Muslims would need no financial help from any source,'' he said.

UNI