Hate rhetoric poisoning young minds in country

Hussaini Alam: In wake of growing communal disharmony, an interfaith programme, 'Universal Brotherhood for Peace,' was organised here on Thursday evening, where luminaries of different faiths and social activists gathered to spread the message of amity and unity among the compatriots.

Emphasising the need for such programs at every level, Swamy Arun Kumar Das Mahant of Udasin Math, which is located in Hussaini Alam, said, "Hate-induced atmosphere will surely not benefit any community and instead stigmatise the image of the country universally. Our children today are learning through various media about how to hate people from other faiths. This is not at all going well in favour of the country."

To steer the country on the path of development and prosperity, he said, all should strive to promote wellbeing in fellow citizens and inculcate the values of upholding the rights of every citizen irrespective of caste, creed and religion among children who are the future of this country.

To start with, the godman observed, inter-faith dialogues are the better mode of bringing people closer to each other. Besides, awareness programmes at schools and colleges can also help to stimulate young minds about the importance of upholding the ethos of diversified culture of the country and life with peaceful coexistence.

Waseem Razvi, a motivational speaker from Australia, said that no religion approves any biased rhetoric against fellow beings. It holds no importance that who have superiority over whom. The significant thing is people understood the religion and its scriptures in a better way. "There are different names of a god but the concept of attaining His wisdom and penance is same and the deliverance is possible only through serving the humanity.

There is only one god but with a different names under different schools of thoughts and every religion affirms the same," he contended. Scholars and activists present on the occasion also emphasised the need for bridging the gaps among communities and increased interaction for creating better understanding.

Dr Razzak Sharfi, founder of Shah Sharfi Foundation, Dr Syed Salahuddin Quadri, Prof Ameeruddin, Mohammed Zubair Khan, president of Being Youth Foundation, besides social activists Mohammed Imaam Tahseen, Sunanda Jain, Nikita Gupta, Chanda Gupta, Mohammed Aijaz and Ameera Khan stressed the need of spreading universal brotherhood.