Mangalore: Minority-Majority Leaders Vow to Work for Communal Harmony
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network- Mangalore (RS/SP)
Mangalore, Oct 30: The district, which is always in the news for wrong reasons, like communal violence, cow-slaughter, religious conversions, terrorism, unemployment and the recent addition of the alleged Love Jihad, promises to wriggle out of all these adversities and be a better place to live in the coming days. A remarkable meeting held with the participation of minority and majority community leaders, titled ‘Minority –Majority Meet - 2009’, in the city on Thursday, October 29, gave rise to a hope and promise in this direction.
The meeting, held at Gateway Hotel here, provided a platform for the leaders of all communities to interact with all other community leaders on various issues, and to understand the perceptions of the other side. Mainly, the issues presented at the meeting were those which gave rise to frequent disturbances in the society and vitiated the harmony. The meet was coordinated by Rahim Uchchil, convener of Bharatheeya Janatha Party’s minority wing.
Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat, Karnataka South regional chief of Rashtreeya Swayam Sevak Sangh, said that this initiative will be a milestone in the history of district, as every participant agreed to extend cooperation to each other towards achieving the objective of preventing violence through mutual understanding.
The district will remain peaceful and people would be able to live with harmony, if such meetings are conducted at lealst once in three months, he opined.
At the said meeting, Satyajit Suratkal, presenting his views on cow slaughter, said that the cow is reverred by the Hindu community, which firmly believes that the cow is a divine incarnation of heavenly bodies, housing millions of gods within its body. Hence, the cow is a holy animal to the followers of Hinduism, and its slaughter hurts the religious sentiments of the Hindus, he explained.
Abdul Razak Zaini said that Islam religion has given the people, the freedom to eat the cow meat, and the Holy Quran does not hold killing of cow as a sin. In the list of meats that can be eaten, provided in the holy book, beef also finds a mention. So, the believers of Islam deem that they have the right to eat beef, which is a healthy food and is available at affordable prices. There is no question of doing anything wrong in killing a cow, as the Indian constitution respects the sentiments of all religions, he briefed.
But committing theft of the cows, trafficking of the cows in an inhuman manner etc., are against the tenets of Islam. The Holy Quran holds that killing of any animal should be conducted in the most merciful manner, and hence the administration too should take action in cases which violate these principles, he felt.
Former mayor, Diwakar, and Azeez Darimi from ‘Samyuktha Kerala Jamyiyathul Ulema’ also spoke on the issue of unemployment. Mohammad Kunhi, convener of Jamath-e-Islami Hind and Jagadeesh Shenava from Vishwa Hindu Parishath spoke on the alleged Love Jehad. Abdul Rasheed Zaini, president of Sunni Students Federation and Raveendra from RSS spoke on the issue of terrorism.
An hour-long discussion was held, after the presentation of views by the religious and other fields, between the participating leaders.
Khusro Qureshi, chairman of the state Minority Commission, and Kalladka Prabhakara Bhat led the discussions.
M B Puranik, leader of Vishwa Hindu Parishat, Vinay L Shetty of Gau Samrakshana Samiti and Sharan Pumpwell, convener of Bajarang Dal, were among those who represented the Hindu outfits. Pushparaj Jain, zonal secretary of Bharateeya Jain Milan, represented the Jain community.
Fr John Fernandes, presiding officer of the Christianity Chair in Mangalore University, Honnibal Cabral from Karnataka Theological Society and J S Noronha, advocate, represented the Christian community in the meeting.
JDS leaders Hyder Parthipady, D M Aslam, Ali Hassan, president of Muslim Varthakara Sangha and Kanachur Monu, Hazrath Seyyad Madani Darga, Ullal, were also present.
The meeting concluded with the aim of striving to work wholeheartedly to maintain peace and communal harmony in the district, by respecting the views, religious values and sentiments of other religions.
Co-coordinator of the meeting, Rahim Uchhil and vice-president of Vishwa Hindu Parishat, Jagadeesh Shenava, conducted the programme.