The Hindu : Pluralistic tradition under assault: Sonia

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 02, 2003

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National

Pluralistic tradition under assault: Sonia

By Our Special Correspondent

The former President, K.R. Narayanan, the Opposition leader, Sonia Gandhi, the Congress leader, Arjun Singh (extreme left), and the CPI (M) leader, Sitaram Yechury (extreme right) at the launching of the convention of Peoples Integration Council in New Delhi on Saturday. — Photo: S. Arneja

NEW DELHI FEB. 1. The Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, today called for a "massive movement cutting across political boundaries'' to take on the challenges facing the country. She also urged the people to look at the "past with pride, and not prejudice.'' Her call came in the course of her keynote address at the inaugural session of the People's Integration Council.

Ms. Gandhi referred to integration in its social and political dimension and outlined the dangers being faced by the country. "Our social fabric is under great stress and the liberal and pluralistic tradition are under assault,'' she said.

Lauding the launching of the council, she said the initiative had become imperative in the face of the Centre's refusal to summon a meeting of the National Integration Council. "Civil society and institutions like the People's Council have a key role to play, especially when the state becomes blatantly partisan.''

Ms. Gandhi said the threat emanated from those who "respect no rules, no norms, no conventions of democratic discourse and debate.'' The council owed it to the people to defend all religions from those "who preach discord and propagate hatred.'' The fight was not against religions, but its political misuse. Decrying attempts at distorting history and its misuse for political purposes, she said "communalism and fanaticism of any kind is unacceptable.''

Inaugurating the meeting, the former President, K. R. Narayanan, said the formation of the council was "delayed but inevitable, because governments are not fulfilling the role expected of them.'' He had often wondered why such an initiative was not forthcoming when the Gujarat carnage was taking place.

Urging the people to pressure the Government to act, he expressed the hope that civil society would assert itself to prevent tragedies such as Gujarat from recurring. He urged the people to safeguard secularism and keep India united. "Communalism is a threat to democracy and the very existence of the country.''

In his welcome address, the CWC member, Arjun Singh, put the purpose of the meeting in its perspective saying "it is not a partisan effort but an attempt to take cognisance of what is happening in the country.''

The CPI (M) politburo member, Sitaram Yechury, said there was need to strengthen commonality in diversity and stressed that the defence of secularism amounted to defending democracy. And stating that the biggest challenge before the nation was from sectarian, communal and fascist forces, the CPI national council member, D. Raja, called for an end to social oppression and caste discrimination.

Calling for an intellectual challenge to the BJP, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, said "they come up with new terminologies like pseudo-secular and cultural nationalism. We must challenge them, we must pit Bhartiya-ism against their cultural nationalism.''

The Delhi Chief Minister, Shiela Dikshit, the former Navy Chief, Admiral Ramdass, Anu Agha, chairperson of Thermax Limited, and many political and rights activists and academicians also attended the meeting.

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