Instances of communal violence dropped considerably in number since the Narendra Modi government came to power, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said on Tuesday. No major episode of communal violence has occurred in India in the near 32-month period, he said while addressing state minority commissions in New Delhi.

“Modi’s commitment to inclusive growth has created an atmosphere of trust-development in all sections, including among minorities,” the minister of state for parliamentary affairs said. “Our ‘empowerment without appeasement’ policy has ensured that minorities are also becoming part of the development process in the country.

To emphasise his point, he pointed out that the National Commission for Minorities had received 1,995 complaints in 2015-’15, down from 2,638 complaints the previous year. “The government is committed to strengthen social and communal harmony in the country,” Naqvi said. The NCM received 1,974 complaints in 2015-’16 and 1,288 till December 31, 2016.

Speaking at the first session of the Annual Conference of State Minorities Commissions, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader urged political leaders to put in honest efforts to empower minority communities. “We want to stop every single such incident that disturbs the social fabric of the country,” he said.

While Naqvi claimed that the National Democratic Alliance government followed a zero-tolerance policy towards communal violence, a number of such incidents drew nationwide attention in the past year – in September 2015, a mob had beaten Mohammed Akhlaq to death alleging that he and his family had eaten beef on Eid; on January 17, 2016, University of Hyderabad PhD scholar Rohith Vemula committed suicide alleging that he faced discrimination from varsity authorities for being Dalit; and in July 2016, four Dalits were stripped and beaten in Gujarat’s Una for skinning a cow.