If I were a dictator, I would introduce Gita in Class 1: Justice Dave

AHMEDABAD: Justice AR Dave of the Supreme Court on Saturday said that people of the country must go back to their “ancient roots and traditions” and that children in their early schooling should be introduced to texts like Mahabharata and Bhagwat Gita.

Justice Dave, who was addressing a conference on human rights organi sed by Gujarat l aw society in Ahmedabad , said , “We lost our ‘guru-shishya parampara. Had it been alive today, we would not have been facing problems of terrorism and violence in the country,” he said in the inaugural session of the conference.

Stressing on the need to inculcate values contained in the ancient texts among children, Dave said, “Somebody who is very secular ... so-called secular will not agree... But had I been the dictator of India, I would have introduced Gita and Mahabharata in Class 1. That is the way you learn how to live life. I am sorry if somebody says I am secular or I am not secular. But if there is something good, we have to get it from anywhere.”

Justice Dave also said that violence has spread in the society. “By bringing (out) all the good things in each and every human being, we can stop the violence everywhere. And for that purpose, we have to go back to our own things again.”

Speaking at the international conference on contemporary issues and challenges of human rights in the era of globalisation, Dave said, “Now we see terrorism in countries. Most of the countries are democratic.... If everybody in a democratic country is good then they would naturally elect somebody who is very good. And that person will never think of damaging anybody else,” he said.

Chief justice of the Bombay High Court, justice Mohit Shah, said ‘development for all’ should be the core value behind the idea of globalisation.

“The concept of global village does not mean everybody just thinking of the world, but it should also be expanding of functions of development for all.... If we don’t share the profits of globalisation, the benefits of globalisation, it would be raising serious challenges,” he said.