NEW DELHI, Feb 17: Asserting that no religion preaches hatred, Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu today urged people not to fall prey to the use of religion by some to promote terror.
Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the 8th Theatre Olympics and releasing its logo titled ‘Flag of Friendship’ at the Red Fort here, the Vice President said art and creativity can play an important role in moulding the minds of the people.
Every religion and philosophy teaches love, harmony, affection and service that should be reflected in art, drama, poetry, literature and music that should be our endeavour, he said.
“No religion preaches hatred, but unfortunately some people are using religion to promote terror….We should not fall prey to this. We all should think that we are one.
“We may have differences, we may have small, small identical issues, but at the end of the day, we all are human beings,” he said.
Naidu said that no one should denigrate the country, its culture and heritage.
“If there are shortcomings and those shortcomings should be highlighted, they should be isolated, they should be condemned and those people should be made to realise that what they are doing is wrong,” he said.
The Vice President said that all arts, thoughts must move in one direction to bring about universal brotherhood.
Minister of State for Culture and Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Mahesh Sharma, along with other dignitaries were also present on the occasion.
Naidu welcomed all the artists from around the world and expressed hope that they will share with each other different facets of their artistic excellence and take away pleasant memories of their stay here.
The 8th Theatre Olympics, a 50-day event, organised by the National School of Drama, will be held in Delhi and 16 other cities across the country.
The theme of this edition of Theatre Olympics was ‘Flag of Friendship’ and will being together over 25,000 artists under one roof.
The event will stage 450 shows from more than 30 countries performed across 17 cities. (PTI)
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