Manmohan Singh, the soft-spoken economist named India's next prime minister, assured the nation yesterday that his new government would work to restore harmony among religions, remain investor-friendly and continue to seek peace with rival Pakistan.
"Unity and communal harmony are a priority," he said, calling on all "patriotic Indians" to shun Hindu-nationalist sentiments against Muslims and others.
PHOTO: AP
The party of outgoing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was widely accused of ignoring, and even stoking, deadly anti-Muslim riots in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat. The Bharatiya Janata Party also backed the construction a Hindu temple at the site of a 16th-century mosque razed by Hindu fanatics in 1992, setting off riots that left thousands dead.
"The essence of Hinduism is that parts may be different, but the goal is the same," said Singh, speaking in both Hindi and English.
"We are the most tolerant civilization in the world -- that is our great heritage. We have to strengthen and build on that heritage. I seek the cooperation of all patriotic Indians," he said.
India's president named Singh prime minister late Wednesday night, ending a week of political turmoil in which Sonia Gandhi, the Italian-born widow at the head of India's most powerful political dynasty and largest party, declined to become prime minister.
Instead, the Congress party leader chose Singh, the 71-year-old former finance minister who was behind market reforms in the 1990s.
Singh said his swearing-in ceremony before the new Parliament was likely to be Saturday.
Today is the 13th anniversary of the assassination of Gandhi's husband, former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, and she will spend the day in solitude with their two children, Rahul and Priyanka.
Wearing a white Nehru-collar shirt and a light blue, traditional Sikh turban, Singh addressed the nation shortly before the start of India's trading day. Stocks opened higher, though they later fell.
"The emergence of India as a major global economic power happens to be one such idea whose time has come," Singh said, adding that the economic reforms promoted by Vajpayee's National Democratic Alliance would continue.
"Reforms with a human face will be pursued," he said, adding that those economic reforms must not leave behind farmers, the rural poor and minority ethnic groups that the Congress party claimed were ignored by the Vajpayee's Hindu-nationalist party.
"The war against poverty and disease has to be carried on relentlessly and I pledge our government to remain steadfast in our commitment," Singh said.
"In the words of Mahatma, to build an India free from the fear of war, want and exploitation," he said.
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