‘Secular India should treat all religions equally without bias’

The speakers included Fr Cedric Prakash, human rights and peace activist; Shabnam Hashmi, social activist; Aishwarya Kalpathi, CEO Yuva Active Advocacy Forum; Badri Seshadri, co-founder of Cricinfo.com and Dr V Suresh, HR lawyer and national general secretary, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL).

The motto of the seminar was to help students understand the intersectionality of the Constitution and secularism and make them into responsible citizens. The session was attended by 150 students from 15colleges.

Delivering the keynote address, Rev Dr Michael Amaladoss SJ,founder and former Director of IDCR, Loyola College, said that India must not be identified by a single religion but as a nation that treats all religions equally. “Minority religions are protected under the constitution from domination by the majority religion. Secularism means pluralism of religion in society and such secularism needs to be celebrated,” he added.

Speaking on ‘Secularism to Ensure Social Justice,’ Fr Cedric Prakash stated that the country belonged to everyone irrespective of their caste, religion or social status and added that one needs to be the change one expects to envision. Aishwarya Kalpathi, CEO, Yuva Active Advocacy Forum, said, “Secularism is invaluable in India which is characterized with immense religious diversity. We believe that providing young minds a holistic picture of the evolution of secularism will enable them to make unbiased decisions.”

Talking about ‘Secularism – Future Aspirations,’ Shabnam Hashmi, social activist, said, “Secularism is separation of the State from the religion. Secularism means ‘respect’ and ‘compassion’ for people from various backgrounds.V Suresh, HR lawyer and Badri Seshadri, co-founder of Cricinfo.com, said that the inclusion of secularism in India will help promote co-existence of its people, despite their religious and culturaldifferences.