PM hails Indian youth for resisting radicalisation

New Delhi: Meeting a delegation of Muslim Ulemas and intellectuals, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed the Indian youth for resisting radicalization and asserted that the country's culture, traditions and social fabric will never allow the nefarious designs of the terrorists or their sponsors to succeed.

Modi told the delegation that it was "our collective responsibility" to take this heritage forward, a PMO statement said in New Delhi.

"The delegation congratulated the Prime Minister on the steps taken by the Union government for inclusive growth, socio-economic and educational empowerment of all sections of the society including Minorities," the statement said.

"The Prime Minister said that youth in India has successfully resisted radicalization, which has affected several parts of the world today," it said.

The credit for this must go to the "long, shared heritage of our people" and that "it is now our collective responsibility to take this heritage forward", Modi told the delegation, which included Imam Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, Chief Imam of All India Organisation of Imams of Mosques, AMU Vice Chancelleor Lt Gen (Retd) Zameeruddin Shah and Jamia Millia Vice Chancellor Talat Ahmed.

He said "the culture, traditions and social fabric of India will never allow the nefarious designs of the terrorists, or their sponsors, to succeed", the statement said.

The Prime Minister also stressed on the importance of education and skill development, which is the key to gainful employment, and upliftment from poverty.

The delegation also included MY Eqbal, former judge of the Supreme Court and Shahid Siddiqui, Urdu journalist.