“OUR common heritage and the glorious tradition of unity in diversity was developed during the freedom movement. Today this heritage is under attack. A conspiracy is being hatched to eradicate the values mentioned in the Preamble of our Constitution,” said Subhashini Ali, Polit Bureau Member of the CPI(M).

She was speaking as a keynote speaker at the Jan Convention on August 3, organised by Sanjha Manch at the SDC auditorium in Ranchi.

ATMOSPHERE VITIATED BY THE SANGH

Subhashini said that the atmosphere in the country has rapidly deteriorated. Though no religion talks about hate, when religion becomes a political weapon, which politics uses to spread hatred, it becomes the most dangerous ideology against other religions. And this ideology is the ideology of the right-wing ruling party of today.

The right-wing governments are going all out with hate campaigns to spread tremendous hatred among the abject poor of the world. Our country is no different. On one hand, policies induced poverty has forced eighty million countrymen to live on meagre "five kilos of food grains", the highest ever unemployment has left a majority of the youth without even a hope of any job. Eighty per cent of the government schools are on the verge of closure and the lesser we say about the health situation, the better. The ruling dispensation is deliberately doing this under the guise of religion.

New India is being made where minorities are being made victims of hatred and accused by law enforcement authorities, and perpetrators of hate and violence from the majority are protected. The rights given by our constitution are being systematically diluted and snatched on one hand, and on the other hand, they are making the country bankrupt for the benefit of a few friends.

The constitution talks about equality, it talks about justice but we are not equal. The secularism mentioned in the constitution is under severe attack. Instead of being secular, as enshrined in the Constitution, the State is openly aligning with a particular religion and spreading hatred against other religions. They are depriving the states of their power of making laws, and their financial rights and limiting them to being an obedient unit, thus attacking the federal structure of India.

SANGH HAD NO ROLE IN THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE

She further said that but for one organisation, all other political parties either participated or they feel proud of our freedom struggle and the Constitution. RSS has been the only exception to this. RSS was with the Britishers and against the freedom struggle and also against the Constitution! The RSS believed that there is no need for Constitution while having a judicial system like Manusmriti. Today, being in power, they are diluting the Constitution based on equality and have chosen Manusmriti based on gross inequality, and engaging themselves in implementing the Manuvadi system. The current dispensation hates “equality” enshrined in the Constitution which is clearly visible in their intent and policies. With merciless privatisation, we see the end of government jobs, job security, legal protections and reasonable wages; no MSP for farmers; no education and no health! GST has been imposed for the first time in the history of independent India on food items. The British had taxed only one commodity, salt, we drove them out of our country. Now this government has imposed GST on eatables, writing materials, medical expenses etc., and we are almost silent because we have been divided into religious flanks. Our human identity has been replaced by the religious identity and they are audaciously defining these identities, defining Hinduism and other religions.

They are defining the difference between religions and their followers. They have also created a new definition of tribals, "Vanvasi", so that their racial and cultural identity loses their relevance. Their eyes are on their rivers-forest-land, which they want to grab for their friends. This is their dangerous campaign to impose the Manuwadi system. Our constitution and our constitutional rights are in danger due to this dangerous campaign and 99 per cent of the countrymen will be affected by it. In the Manuvadi system, you will not be worker-farmers, will not be employed, there will be no education-health-public welfare, and there will be no rights. We will again be slave subjects without the rights of the citizen. Thus, this is not a fight of Muslims, Christians or for that matter of only minorities, it is a fight of 99 per cent of our countrymen and if we fight unitedly, we will definitely win. Wake up, wake up others, foster solidarity and harmony, save the constitution, save the country.

DEFEND SECULARISM

The main resolution of the convention was presented by Father Tony. Addressing the convention, former vice chancellor of Vinoba Bhave University,  Ramesh Sharan said that after we attained freedom, we charted our journey on the path of unity and harmony by clearing remnants of communalism. Renowned filmmaker Meghnad said that in our tradition, the colour of secularism is so deeply embedded, that no one will be successful to amend it. Addressing the convention, representatives of various religious groups, including Charanjit Kaur of the Central Gurdwara Singh Sabha, Maulana of Islam, Father Alex Ekka of Christianity, Tathagata Jainndra Kumar of the Buddha Society said in their statements that the foundation of all religions is kindnesses, equanimity, compassion, justice and brotherhood. Only by strengthening this foundation can the values of our shared heritage be protected. K D Singh of AIKS and social activist, Kiran also addressed the convention.

With the resolution of the convention, the detailed outline of the upcoming programme was placed in detail by Amal Pandey, which was accepted by more than two hundred and fifty present.

The convention was chaired by Harminder Singh.

RESOLUTION ON UNITY AND HARMONY

"Sanjha Manch, Jharkhand (Samajh)" is a serious effort by the enlightened citizens and progressive socio-political organisations of Ranchi to maintain unity and harmony and to fight the growing hate politics and resultant division in the society.  It is the befitting message of love, justice, brotherhood and harmony to the forces hell-bent on dividing society into religious lines. It is the platform to promote the pluralistic culture of our country through channels of dialogue with all sections of society.

The campaign of hate on the basis of religion has a widespread ill-effect on society at large.  The abominable political use of religion not only divides the society which lives and works in harmony but also deepens mutual animosity.  This hate converts the general public into a mob and commits heinous crimes like mob lynching.  Public issues and public problems take the back seat and hate frenzy comes to the forefront. Thus, from education, health, job, business, social security, freedom etc., our focus gets shifted to religious hysteria.  We forget our identity as human beings and get reduced to the confines of religious identity.

Sanjha Manch Jharkhand talks about common heritage. The foundation of all religions, on which no religious person/group can raise any objection, is based on love, compassion, kindness, brotherhood, equanimity, freedom, dignity, mutual cooperation, justice et al.  Another common heritage is our citizenship.  We all are Indian citizens irrespective of our religion, caste or creed. In fact, because of our Constitution, we are enjoying the rights and benefits of a citizen for the first time in our long history. Citizen is the highest empowered unit of the country and our constitution gives us all these rights. It is sad that due to the ongoing religious frenzy, we are missing our constitutional obligations. Today, the debate is not between religiosity, atheism and secularism, the fundamental question is to strengthen the foundation of humanity and citizenship.

Sanjha Manch has taken a step forward to foster solidarity among all religions and to re-establish the common heritage of the Constitution and citizenship in the society through constant dialogue and discussions.

In the last three and a half months, the Sanjha Manch has been continuously interacting with various religious leaders and social organisations of the society.  Along with this, making meaningful intervention in disputes with the cooperation of the administration is strengthening the atmosphere of peace and harmony in society.

We all have gathered here today to strengthen our common heritage to the next stage. Participation and suggestions from different religious leaders, our speakers and a knowledgeable audience are required to enrich this proposal. You are also requested to join Sanjha Manch and contribute to its expansion.