A group of former bureaucrats and diplomats has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressing concern at the worsening communal relations in the country and urging him to convene an interfaith meeting and affirm the government’s resolve to maintain communal harmony.

“There is immediate need for an interfaith meeting under your chairmanship where you as the Prime Minister of an inclusive Bharat should give out a message that India remains a land for all, where faiths have existed together and in harmony for centuries and that no sectarian forces will be permitted to disturb this uniquely pluralistic and diverse legacy…” the letter says.

“We urge you to reassure all Indians, especially the minority communities, that your government will be firm in its resolve to maintain communal amity, harmony and integration.”

The letter flags how the “extremely strained” relations between Hindus and Muslims, and to an extent Christians, have over the last decade left minority communities in “extreme anxiety and insecurity”, with the latest provocations coming in the form of demands for archaeological surveys on medieval mosques and dargahs.

Four people were killed in Sambhal town of Uttar Pradesh on November 24 when a mob clashed with police amid a court-ordered survey of a Mughal-era mosque to determine whether it stood on the ruins of a temple. A court petition has been moved demanding a similar survey of the famous 12th-century dargah of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer, Rajasthan.

“The very thought that a mendicant Saint, a fakir who was an integral part of the Sufi/ Bhakti movement unique to the Indian subcontinent, and a paragon of compassion, tolerance and harmony could have destroyed any temple to assert his authority is ridiculous,” the retired officials have said, referring to the dargah controversy.

They have underlined that several Prime Ministers, including Modi, sent chadars to the dargah on the occasion of the annual Urs event as a homage to the Sufi saint’s message of peace and harmony.

“An ideological assault on this uniquely syncretic site is an assault on our civilisational heritage and perverts the very idea of an inclusive India that you (PM Modi) seek to reinvigorate,” the letter says.

Underscoring that relations between communities had suffered blows during and after the Partition, it says the incidents of the last 10 years were “markedly different” and showed the “clear partisan role of many of the state governments and their administrative machinery”, which was “unprecedented”.

“What started as incidents of bullying or beating up Muslim youth on charges of carrying beef, grew into lynchings of innocent people within their homes, followed by Islamophobic hate speeches with clearly genocidal intent,” the retired officials have said.

“In the recent past there have been calls for boycotting Muslim business establishments and eateries, non-renting of premises to Muslims, and unrestrained bulldozing of Muslim homes at the behest of chief ministers themselves led by a ruthless local administration.”

The letter has cited media reports about 154,000 establishments being hit and lakhs of people, the majority of them Muslims, rendered homeless.

The retired officials have said the goal of a developed Bharat cannot come to fruition amid such communal disturbances and urged Modi to ensure that chief ministers and their administrations adhere to the letter of the law and the Constitution.

“You (Modi) are the only person who can bring a halt to all illegal, pernicious activities,” the letter says.