Sir,
This refers to the news item’Muslim girl wins Gita contest'(DE March4,2015)The fact that a twelve year Muslim girl named Mariam Asif Siddiqui,a class six student in Mumbai won a contest on Bhagwad Gita from among 4500 students drawn from 195 schools out of which 105 were private and 90 were Municipal schools, goes on to prove that India is a pluralistic country where every religion is given due reverence and importance.The young girl’s comments that the holy book has taught her that humanity is the biggest religion in the world speaks volume about the girl’s broad outlook and keen sense of observation and insight and serves as a lesson to those narrow minded religious fanatics of every religion,who propagate hatred through the religious speeches and other means.There have also been reports of Hindu boys joining Madrasa to learn Urdu and Muslim boys enrolling in RSS run schools.It must be borne in mind that religion is a very personal and deep belief .It is a way of life and it must be practised as such.No religion teaches disrespect for other religions.The girl has summed up the very tenets preached by the saints and prophets of all religions that no religion is more pious and greater than humanity and service of mankind is the greatest service.
Our prophets and saints always used religion as a means of unifying people and motivating them to devote their life for the service of mankind.It is only a handful of people who spread hatred and division through religion.It is time the government,the society and the social and religious organisations took steps to promote religious tolerance in children and the youth in order to maintain the pluralistic and secular character of India for which our country has been known since times immemorial.Children ought to be provided such an atmosphere both at home and in school where they are motivated to read the scriptures of all the religions and encouraged to learn to respect all the religions as they grow up.In fact, the basic tenets of every religion need to be incorporated in the courses of study especially in the early years of schooling so that the children learn them and are not led astray by the divisive forces in the later stages of life.
Yours etc…
Ashok Sharma,
Udhampur
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