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Disown those who incite communal violence, say leaders

Several Gandhians, religious leaders and politicians today appealed to the people to disown all those who spread communal hatred and propagate the culture of violence in the name of religion.

At the end of a day-long discussion, 'Religious Tolerance Under Strain', organised by the Indian Council of Gandhian Studies and the Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Committee in New Delhi, they expressed pain at the outbreak of violence against the numerically, politically and socially weaker sections of society.

The speakers appealed to leaders of all religions and faiths to denounce and resist the communalisation of politics and politicisation of religion so that religion remained a guardian of human worth and dignity.

The speakers at the discussion included Dr K K Gangrade, Rev Valson Thampu, Vasant Sathe, Syed Shahabuddin, Prof Sher Singh, Rajesh Pilot, Nirmala Deshpande, Prof Imtiaz Ahmed, Saman Sthitpraota, Father Anto, A J Philip and Fr Francis Gonsalves.

They said they were convinced that these events point to the degradation in the political and social sphere as well as the decline and abuse of religion. This highlighted the need for each religion to rediscover its true spiritual and ethical roots and to overcome the glaring contradiction between its scriptural values on the one hand, and the practical preference and agendas resorted to from time to time, on the other, they felt.

They said only on the foundation of the Gandhian vision, with its emphasis on truth, love, non-violence and equal respect for all religions, could a modern India be built that was politically united, socially integrated, economically prosperous and culturally dynamic.

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