No Indianness without secularism, says Sonia
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday told a gathering at an international conference to commemorate the 125th birth anniversary of Jawaharlal Nehru that India’s democracy has evolved over the last 50 years, sometimes in ways that would have surprised Nehru.
“Nevertheless, in a multiethnic, multi- religious, multi- linguistic, multi- religional society, Nehru’s belief that only parliamentary democracy and a secular state could hold the country together has been proved right. Nehru was prescient about the consequences of allowing religion into politics. The truth of his conviction can be seen in the conflicts raging in various parts of the world in the name of religion,” she observed at Vigyan Bhavan here.
The Congress president’s remarks are seen as an attempt to reject the very idea of the BJP and its saffron allies about India at a time when they have succeeded — to some extent in the elections — in their mission of a “Congressmukt Bharat”.
She said this was an appropriate moment in time to revisit the life, thought and contribution of one of the greatest Indians that has ever lived. “Not only is it a commemoration of his 125th birth anniversary, it is an opportunity to reassert the relevance, durability and indispensability of his legacy,” Mrs Gandhi said.
Holding that secularism, a state neutral in matters of religion, respecting all faiths equally, was an article of faith for Nehru, Mrs Gandhi said “... There could be no Indianness, no India, without secularism. Secularism was and remains more than an ideal. It is a compelling necessity for a country as diverse as India.”
The conference, which seeks to highlight the legacy and world view of the country’s first Prime Minister, is also being attended by international leaders like former President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai and Ghana exPresident John Kufuor, and Pakistani rights activist Asma Jehangir and veteran South African freedom fighter Ahmed Kathrada.