Voicing concern over the challenge posed by proponents of extremist ideologies through intimidation and terror, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said steps needed to be taken to tackle this "grave menace".
"The growth of extremist ideologies is threatening civilised existence. The proponents of such ideologies are challenging the tenets of democracy and representational politics by resorting to intimidation, terror and other manifestations of intolerance," he said.
Dr Singh was inaugurating a Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth (CSPOC) being attended by 50 Speakers and Presiding Officers of 42 Parliaments in Commonwealth countries, including Pakistan.
Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar is chairperson of the conference.
The Prime Minister said, "We should not and cannot give any quarter to such forces. At the same time we should look at ways and means by which such forces can be eliminated without undermining our democratic foundations."
He said this will require sustained international effort and cooperation and expressed the hope that the deliberations at the conference would give "new insights on how we can tackle this grave menace".
Dr Singh also spoke about the growing number of regional and sub-regional parties in the country and a concomitant rise in coalition politics.
This, he said, was the manifestation of deepening of democratic representation with more and more sections of the electorate gaining a political voice.