10 days after a Muslim man was lynched in Dadri over rumours that his family had consumed beef, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday finally broke his silence, saying the country must remain united. Without mentioning Dadri in his speech in Bihar's Nawada district, Modi said the country must follow President Pranab Mukherkjee's words on maintaining India's core values of diversity and tolerance .

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"Even if Narendra Modi himself says something like that, don't listen to him. If you want to listen, then hear the speech of President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday. There can be no bigger thought than that. President has shown us the way, and we have to walk on that path. Only then will we be able to live up to the expectations of the world," the Prime Minister said.

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On Wednesday, the President had appealed for tolerance and sent a strong message, saying core values of the civilisation could not be allowed to be wasted.



"We can't allow the core values of our civilisation to be wasted. The core values are that over the years, civilisation celebrated diversity, promoted and advocated tolerance, enjoyed plurality. These core civilisation values keep us together over the centuries," President Mukherjee said at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"I want to tell the people that because of politics and for petty gains, people are making irresponsible statements. I appeal to citizens not to take them seriously," Modi said in his last rally of the day in Nawada.

"I had said that we should decide whether Hindus have to fight against Muslims or against poverty and same to Muslims. I had said that just after the bomb blasts that Hindus and Muslims should unite to fight against poverty. I requested everyone to go back to their homes peacefully and not let any reaction take place," he said.

In his four rallies in Munger, Begusarai, Samastipur and Nawada, Modi continued to train his guns on Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad over his controversial statement that Hindus also eat beef.