Aligarh, March 10: Insisting that the country's secular order was under ‘assault’, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Muslims were among the ‘deprived’ communities requiring ‘vigorous governmental action’ to address the situation. Addressing the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) annual convocation, he said no nation could aspire towards ‘when large sections of its population are excluded’ from the benefits of national achievement and progress.

"We are deeply concerned about the status of our deprived communities, including the Muslim community, and we stand committed to their welfare and progress," he said while talking about the social and educational backwardness of the minority community. There is a need for ‘vigorous governmental action’ at the grass-root level and the government would not shy away from its responsibility towards the ‘marginalised masses’, Mukherjee said.

"I am aware that the assault on our secular order is taking place," he said, adding there were ‘deep concerns’ about the standing of the larger Muslim community, which ‘is seen as being deprived and marginalised’, particularly in northern parts. Mukherjee criticised the ‘chauvinistic elements who try to promote the thesis that any particular religion glorifies crimes against humanity’ and said such an ‘exclusivist approach’ was weakening the country's fight against terrorism.

"He also reiterated India's stand that the ‘only way forward is for the international community to declare a policy of zero tolerance against terrorism’.