Pics: Spoorthi Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (CLP)

Mangaluru, Feb 24: Hundreds descended on the streets of the city on Tuesday February 24 as part of the 'Harmony march towards unity' organized by DYFI and SFI in association with other like-minded organizations.

The rally was held from Dr Ambedkar circle to DC's office, where a meet was held.

Addressing the gathering, Sri Veerabhadra Chennamalla Swamiji of Shri Nidumamidi Math said, "Once upon a time, India was a role model to the world in terms of peace and harmony, but now there is a great threat to our value system. The greatest threat to the world is lack of tolerance among people, this is leading to violence and bloodbath in society."

He further said, "All saints throughout history till present have tried to create a peaceful society, and all of them built a strong sense of harmony among the people, but politicians are trying to divide the society on the basis of caste, religion and creed, and thus destroying our values.

"We are not abiding by the teachings of the saints who tried to create peaceful sociey but dancing to the tunes of politicians who are dividing the minds and nation for their selfish political gains. This is the greatest tragedy of the country. Now it is the time to think again about where we are going wrong. There is one India, there is no separate India for Muslims, Hindus or Christians or Jains. We all have to live in peace and share and live together in harmony," he said.

"We need 'samaja sudhara utsava' (fest for betterment of society) and not 'samajotsava'. I am not saying we should not conduct 'samajotsavas' but all the 'utsavas' must create harmony and not disrupt the peace. All the organizers of utsavas have to responsible and not create tension in society," he said, in an oblique reference to the upcoming VHP's Hindu Samajotsava.

"We live in a society where untouchability still exists and where poor die of hunger. As per WHO, one out of four dying of hunger is an Indian. The gap between the rich and the poor is widening and the poor are finding it difficult to survive. We have children who are facing malnutrition, women are not safe and many more problems still exist in India. But instead of solving these things we are talking about religion and fighting for it, this a disgrace to the society," he added.

In his inaugural address DYFI district president Dayananda Shetty said, "From the past 20 years the Sangh Parivar is sowing the seeds of communalism in society. In the district trivial isues are becoming communal. We all know what happend in Puttur and Ulaibettu. We strictly condemn the communalism in society; humanity is greater than communalism. I wish this harmony march towards unity becomes an eye opener to all those trying to divide the society."

Santhosh Bajal, DYFI secretary, Charan Shetty, SFI district secretary, Muneer Katipalla, state DYFI president, V Ambarish, SFI state president, Vasant Achari, CPI (M) district secretary,Chandrakala Nandavara and others were present.