A SEMINAR HIGHLILGHTS IMPORTANCE OF SECULAR DEMOCRACY
By V.M. Khaleelur Rahman
A seminar on “Strengthening Indian Secular Democracy” was held in Chennai on 6th September 2012 jointly by Church of South India Inter-Faith Dialogue Centre, Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought and Rajaji Centre for Public Affairs.
Rev. Viji Varghese Eapen, Director, Ecumenical Relations & Ecological Concerns, Church of South India welcomed the gathering and A. Faizur Rahman, Secretary General, Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thoughts, introduced the speakers.
Prince of Arcot Nawab Mohammed Abdul Ali, Javed Anand, Subhashini Ali, Dr. Patrick Gnanapragasam, Dr. K.V.S. Habib Mohammed, Moosa Raza, Maulana Ghulam Mohammed Mehdi Khan, Baskara Bharathi and G. Narayanaswamy spoke on the occasion highlighting the importance of secular democracy and stressing the need for its improvement.
While the Prince of Arcot said that secularism is like oxygen without which our country cannot survive, Baskara Bharathi said that it is in the blood of the Tamil people whatever may be their religion. Dr. K.V.S. Habib Mohammed cautioned that communalism is on the increase and there is need for everyone to do the needful and try for amity and communal harmony among the people. Javed Anand explained the success in the legal battles relating to the anti Muslim riots in Gujarat and criticized the protest meeting held in Azad Maidan, Mumbai to protest against the riots in Assam in which two Muslim youngsters lost their lives in police firing. He said that the organizers of the meeting did not have the courtesy of even going to the parents of the deceased and consoling them. What is the use in conducting such meetings which cannot be beneficial to anybody but create further problems? He questioned. He also found fault with the way a Urdu paper reported news in Mumbai. His aim was to make Muslims realise that their grievances can be solved only through joint efforts of people belonging to different communities.
The seminar was highly successful.
The following is the Press Release issued jointly by the above mentioned three organizations:
India’s Constitution declares our country to be a socialist secular democracy. This was thought almost impossible in 1947 when India fell prey to communal politics and was tragically partitioned. But the visionary framers of our Constitution saw to it that our country did not go the Pakistan way. They gave us one of the best Constitutions in world which brought about the unity and integrity of our nation through the principles of justice, liberty, equality and fraternity and ensured the sovereignty of the people by providing for a Parliamentary form of government. And despite monstrous incidents of anti minority violence dotting its post partition history the idea of India has never come under serious threat.
However the anti national forces have not slackened their efforts to make India a theocratic state. But the discerning citizens of this great nation have been through the evil designs of these pseudo nationalist and have consistently rejected their appeals to baser human emotions. Nevertheless the recent Assam riots involving the Bodos and Muslims have given a fresh opportunity to some right wing groups to sow seeds of disharmony amongst the people. Rumours were generated that Muslims were plotting to attack the northeast Indians to avenge the Bodo violence against the Muslims. This resulted in the mass exodus of northeasterners from several Indian cities. Not surprisingly, the rumours were proved to be intentionally circulated to engineer a situation in the country through which the divisive forces could further their fiendish agenda. The hostility towards Biharis in Maharashtra may also be viewed in this context.
Apart from this, it was recently seen that courts of law acquitted several Muslim youths arrested on charges of terrorism. The arrest and torture of such innocent men has engendered a feeling of immense disappointment among Indian Muslims who now think that they are being unfairly demonised and suspected without any basis.
In these circumstance, the Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought, the Church of South India Inter-Faith Dialogue Centre and the Rajaji Centre for Public Affairs have come together to organize this seminar. The idea is to send out a strong message to the anti democratic forces both within and outside India. The message is that Hindus, Muslims, Christians and all other minorities stand united as Indians, no force on earth can divide them and thereby enable vested interests to shake the foundations of our secular democracy. The government is also urged to dispel the feeling of alienation among the minorities, particularly the Muslims, by seriously addressing their legitimate grievances and helping them in their efforts to join hands with their co-citizens to not only build this country but also defend it against all forms destabilizing ideologies.(VMK in Twocircles.net)
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