Educationist and activist Ram Puniyani has called for launching a multi-layered struggle against communalism, poverty and unemployment affecting a large section of the country. He also stressed on the need to campaign for the rights of workers, farmers, small traders, marginalized communities and women’s safety.
Pro. Puniyani, a former faculty at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mumbai and chairman of the civil society organization Center for the Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), was delivering a ‘distinguished lecture’ on the ‘challenges of Indian democracy’. The event was organized by the Vakkam Moulvi Memorial and Research Center (VMMRC) in collaboration with CSSS from 75 of India. th year of independence.
While lamenting the actions allegedly undermining democratic rights, the academic labeled efforts to criticize the government as anti-national. While such practices are intended for curriculum reform, seeing them otherwise is indicative of the collapse of democracy.
Professor Puniyani said that the country’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had foreseen the danger posed by mixing religion with politics. “The use of religion in India has risen to an alarming level, with issues related to religious identity touching an emotional chord. In such a situation, emotional issues based on religion are a big challenge for democracy. Today politics has come under the guise of religion. Consequently, democracy is strangled by such trends from multiple sources,” he pointed out.
He said that communal politics is based on a distorted version of history. Spreading the misconceptions of history has become part of social common sense and the basis on which hatred can be built. He called for campaigning at the grassroots level to propagate the values of pluralism and diversity.
Irfan Engineer, Director, CSSS presided over the session. KM Sethi, Senior Fellow, Indian Council of Social Science Research also spoke.