Religious Community Heads Meet for Communal Peace and Harmony

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, October 31,2009: The Minority - Majority Meet 2009, coordinated by the Convener of Bharatiya Janatha Party’s minority wing Rahim Uchchil, was held at the Gateway Hotel on October 29, Thursday. The purpose of the meet was to provide a common platform for various religious heads to meet and interact with one another and thereby understand one another’s beliefs, policies, and religious tenets better. The meeting was also arranged with the intention of fostering communal peace and harmony in a region that had witnessed a lot of communal disturbances in the recent past. 

Karnataka South Regional Chief of Rashtreeya Swayam Sevak Sangh Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat said that, since the participants promised their whole-hearted support in the maintenance of peace and communal harmony in DK, the district will definitely witness more peace and harmony in the near future. He also said that such meetings must be conducted once in 3 months. 

Satyajit Suratkal informed the gathering why the Hindus consider the cow to be a sacred animal and why they are against cow slaughter. Abdul Razak Zaini responded and said that Islam accepts eating beef; moreover, the meat is available at affordable prices. But theft of cows, illegal trafficking of cows, and treating cows in an inhuman manner is against the tenets of Islam and the Muslims would extend their whole-hearted support to the administration in preventing such illegal and inhuman activities. 

The issues of unemployment, Love Jihad, and terrorism were also discussed at the meeting, which lasted for an hour. These discussions were moderated by Khusro Qureshi, the chairman of the state minority commission and Kalladka Prabhakara Bhat. 

The Hindu community was represented by M B Puranik, the head of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad; Vinay L Shetty of the Go Samrakshana Samiti; and Sharan Pumpwell, the convener of Bajarang Dal. The Jain community was represented by Pushparaj Jain, the zonal secretary of Bharateeya Jain Milan. The Christian community was represented by Fr John Fernandes, the presiding officer of the Christian Chair in Mangalore University; Hannibal Cabral of the Karnataka Theological Society; and J S Noronha, the advocate.