CHENNAI: Prince of Arcot Mohammed Abdul Ali called for a better understanding and communal harmony, while delivering a lecture at the Madras Bar Association’s 150th year lecture series recently .
He appealed to people to make a conscious and earnest effort to know and understand the religious beliefs, values, and feelings of people of other faiths. This is an absolutely necessary condition for promoting communal harmony and better understanding for living together in this world, according to him. He added, “What I propose to do here is suggest ways and means of building better understanding among all people and religious communities in the country and strengthening ties among them within the empowering framework provided by our Constitution and the law.”
He said that he despised religious intolerance, by saying that while celebrating diversity and pluralism is good, attempts to divide people on the basis of religion, caste, language or ethnicity should be strongly discouraged.
He said, “Therefore, I earnestly call upon people of all faiths to counter intellectually all such attempts at sowing seeds of prejudice, disharmony and hatred in society. Just as our creator is one, we must all realise that humanity is one.” He stressed the need for framing a curriculum on peace education, which should be introduced in the syllabi of schools and colleges across the country.
He said, “I feel we should hold consultations with scholars, teachers, legal experts, and secular and progressive public intellectuals to identify the areas and issues that need to be covered by peace education.” He added, “Care must be taken to make the content as well as the pedagogic methods of teaching relevant as well as lively and interesting to young people. This will help in the steady progress and development of the nation. He also called for a resolve to make a firm, consistent, and even-handed stand against attempts by communal, casteist, and other vested interests.