Journalist Balraj Puri gets Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today presented the 24th Indira Gandhi Award for National Integration to well-known journalist Balraj Puri, who he said had spent his life building bridges between religions and communities.

The award is given year on the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who was assassinated by her own bodyguards on this day 25 years ago.

"It is a small token of our deep sense of gratitude to one of the greatest leaders that modern India has produced," Dr Singh said.

He said Ms Gandhi's contribution to nation building and national integration was unparalleled.

"Her commitment to national unity and integrity and to the cause of secularism is too well known to need an reiteration. Even twenty five years after her martyrdom, her legacy remains as strong and durable as ever and her vision still guides and inspires us and it will continue to do so for ages to come," he said.

Dr Singh said Mr Puri's life has been one of selfless service to society and to the country. "It has been a life dedicated to the cause of promoting peace, good-will and communal harmony," he said.

In particular, the Prime Minister referred to Mr Puri's knowledge about Jammu and Kashmir and said he had learnt a great deal about the state from him.

He also noted that Mr Puri had written some of the most incisive books and articles on Jammu and Kashmir and the problems that the state faces.

"His writings display a deep understanding of the problems of the state and an ability to think out of the box. Not surprisingly, he has earned the great respect and admiration of the academic communities nationally as well as internationally, which has honoured him on many occasions. His book: ‘Kashmir: Towards Insurgency’ has become a primer for all those seeking to understand the cause for the troubles in the state, and the ways to move beyond them," he said.

He also said that, as an activist, many of Mr Puri's efforts had been low profile and had gone unsung. He said that it was Mr Puri who helped to reconcile many of the differences between Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah and later between Ms Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah.

"The capital he built upon was his large circle of friends and comrades in every part of Jammu and Kashmir. It was not surprising, therefore, that even during the troubled years of the 1990s, Balraj Puri was among the few who carried credibility with all sides," he said.

Dr Singh recalled that Mr Puri began his work at a very young age and had participated in the Quit India movement as a young boy of 14 years.

He organized student movements in Jammu in 1946 and later founded the Peace Volunteer Corps in 1947 to work for preventing communal riots at the time of partition.

He has also worked in Punjab and certain volatile parts of Uttar Pradesh and helped to defuse charged communal situations and paved the way for a dialogue and non-violent conflict resolution.

"We would do well to remember that tolerance and secularism define the very idea of India. That is the legacy of Indiraji. For centuries we have existed as a multi-religious and multi-cultural society, always ready to accommodate newer ways of thinking and living. This liberal outlook needs to be nurtured and strengthened. It is our solemn duty to raise our voice against those who attempt to divide our society on communal lines for their selfish interest," he added.

NNN