I am very happy to be present on this occasion to give away the Communal Harmony Awards and the Kabir Puraskar to the

Bhakti Sahitya Shodh Sansthan,

His Holiness Shri Jagadguru Dr. Tontada Siddhaling Mahaswamiji,

Smt. Syeda Naseem Chishti, and

Shri Mohd. Farid Mazahiri.

Indeed, they are all outstanding personalities and institutions which have made excellent contribution for the continued promotion of communal harmony and national integration and include those who have protected the lives and properties of people irrespective of religion, caste and creed at great personal risk during periods of communal strife.

EPF should quickly upgrade its procedures, acquire and position the required technology and processes, absorb and internalise the changed way of working and bring about a change in its mindset and raise the level of its sensitivity to their less privileged client base.

India is a nation of vast diversity and for a nation to move ahead on the road to economic and social development, it is very important that all the different sections of our society live together in a peaceful and harmonious manner. Our nation has a great tradition of tolerance and respect for different religions, castes and creed and we have always assimilated different religions, castes and creeds into this great nation. Both the communal harmony awards and Kabir Puraskar are a reflection of our recognition of this overarching ideology of communal harmony and our attitude of tolerance towards different religions and sections of our society. However, these awards go one step further on this road to communal harmony. They recognize the putting into practice of our philosophy and tradition of tolerance and communal harmony. All these personalities and organization whom we recognize and honour today are real-life contributors to the traditions of communal harmony and courage in the diverse environment of our society.

We all listened to the national anthem in the beginning of this function. What did we observe? The best artistes of our nation were giving their best symbiotically converging with harmony. I was moved; we were moved and the whole nation moved. Can we give the best in our field, like them? If we, the billion people, give our best in each one's task to the mission, no one on this planet can stop India from achieving its developed nation status - with economic prosperity, peace and happiness.

We, a nation of billion people should think as a nation of billion people. Indians are natural born leaders in critical situations and challenging environments for the reason they live in a society of multi religious, multi ethnical and multi cultural people. I consider no other nation like India, has got the civilisational heritage to live near peaceful life. Indian minds were capable of absorbing the best of cultures from many sources. We have also evolved the great qualities of leadership to manage the nation of billion people with democratic systems and with various dimensions in every aspect of life. Now we should not allow any religion or any individual fanaticism to endanger our nation. Because, nation is very important compared to any individual or party or religion.

It is indeed a very important occasion to recognize the contributions made by the award winners in promoting the concept of communal harmony in our country by concrete actions. With these words, I would like to once again congratulate the distinguished awardees.

Thank you.

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