Times of India, 3 July 2008 COMMUNAL HARMONY Secular forces join hands TIMES NEWS NETWORK
Panaji: Secular forces should combine to fight communal elements that are creating disharmony in the state. This was the sentiment expressed by prominent citizens and representatives of religious organisations at a discussion held at the T B Cunha hall by the Citizens' Initiative for Communal Harmony (CICH) on Wednesday afternoon. The participants discussed and analysed what has been the cause of the sudden occurrence of the communal riots and reached the conclusion that "the state is unleashing terror and that these designs should be exposed through the media." It was also decided that investigation should be carried out to bring the people responsible for the recent Curchorem and Margao riots to book. Social activist, Ramesh Gauns, said, "Migrants used to work in large numbers in quarries in Goa ever since I was a child. Why is it then that only now they are seen as a threat to our communal harmony? These are only political designs." Gauns said that the political forces are ahead of the secular forces in strategising which is making it difficult to control the communal disharmony created for political gains. A participant, Devendra Kandolkar said,"We should protest when some flyers with communal content are distributed. We should also fight when textbooks are withdrawn because a fascist organisation pressurises the government to do so. We need to check all such activities and not only when riots take place."Elaborating on the same, Jawahar Barve of the Rashtriya Seva Dal, said, "News papers such as the Sanatan Prabhat openly propogate the idea of a Hindu rashtra. This is hazardous for our society and such practices should come to an end." A media person, Niraj Naik, said, "We did nothing when the 120 accused of the Churchorem riots were freed. Citizens should make their resistance to such happenings known." One of the participants, Sayyed Iftiyaaz, warned, ". Be wary of rumours against other communities and communal speeches." Praveen Sabnis of the CICH, said that people have become insensitive towards one another and that each person should go beyond reacting to instigation by communal forces. Sebastian Rodrigues alleged, "We cannot forget the role of corporates in this issue of communal disharmony. Nothing is done unless there are economic gains involved." -- (M) 9326137682 "If you have knowledge, let others light their candles in it." — Margaret Fuller
