No room for anti-India activism: Union minister

Union minister Jitendra Singh on Thursday said there was no room for anti-India activism in the country and those indulging in it for short-term publicity were in fact alluded by a false sense of self-righteousness and unreal intellectual pretensions. He also said under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a diligent and sincere effort was made over the last five years to create a model of state-nation that combined an optimum mix of the basic Indian ethos and a progressive vision for the future.

"There is no room for anti-India activism and those indulging in it for short-term publicity are in fact alluded by a false sense of self-righteousness and unreal intellectual pretensions," the minister said while releasing a series of books written on different eras in ancient India. Referring to the situation prevailing in the country, Singh, without naming anyone, said in journalistic parlance, there was a proverb that "a dog bites a man is no news, but if a man bites a dog, that is news".

The proverb was based on the obvious logic that man biting a dog was an anomaly and not a norm, he said, adding that however, in the last few days, the puzzle before people was whether the proverb had turned the other way round, with a man biting a dog becoming a norm. Singh said when the prime minister set a target of a USD 5 trillion economy, he envisaged an India which would emerge as a global leader on the basis of its inherent strength drawn from time-tested values, coupled with the collective commitment of its 130 crore people.

He said even the most emancipated nations of the world had drawn a bottom-line of nationhood for themselves. It was high time that we, as a nation, also drew a bottom-line of our conduct, so that nothing was said or done which could hurt or denigrate the integrity and esteem of India, the minister said.