Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today asked the administration to act decisively against those responsible for inciting communal violence. Addressing the sixteenth meeting of the National Integration Council, NIC, in New Delhi , Dr. Manmohan Singh described communal violence as a challenge to democracy. He added, it is the responsibillty of state governments to ensure people responsible for such violence are punished. Dr. Singh appealed media not to politicise communal violence. Condemning the Muzzafarnagar clashes in Uttar Pradesh in which more than 50 lives were lost, prime Minister said, anti-national forces are using very small incidents to trigger violence.

Dr. Singh said violence against SC/ST's and other weaker sections is a serious concern and the atrocities against them are on rise even after 60 years of independence. He said, since last three years, such incidents are on the rise and more than 10,000 cases of violence against SC/ST's are being registered every year. He said, alongwith strict action against perpetrators of violence against weaker sections and these communities must be helped to improve their social and economic conditions.

Speaking on the ocassion Home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said communal forces seem to have got emboldened and are trying to polarize the society. He said minor incidents tend to get escalated into major incidents of violence leading to displacement of people. He also said the NIC ,meeting will focus on important issues like security and safety of women. Deploring the increase of recent incidents of violence against women, the Home minister said, the goverment has made the law more stronger to provide stringent punishment to the culprits.