By IRNA
New Delhi : Ram Vilas Paswan, India’s Minister for Steel, Fertilizers and Chemicals, convened a press conference after holding annual meeting of the executive committee meeting of Dalit and Minorities International Forum.
The meeting discussed the socio-political situation of the country and analysis of western state of India, Gujarat elections in which BJP the Hindu rightists won was felt as a serious threat to the unity of the country particularly dangerous for Muslims and other minorities.
The meeting was of the view that all secular parties of India should take it as an alert and join hands to remove communalism preached and spread by the Gujarat’s Modi government and Hindu rightists.
The Forum firmly expressed that only forces of secularism and social justice can fight the devil of communalism and for this cause Dalits, backward minorities (Muslims) and other weaker sections of the Indian society will have to unite.
It was also decided that an international conference of Dalit and Minorities International Forum will be held in New York, USA from 4th to 6th July, 2008.
At least six such conferences will be held in different states of India within a year.
Paswan is also the leader of Lok Jan Shakti Party (People’s Power Party) and chairman of Dalit and Minorities International Forum held the executive committee’s meeting at his residence in which its delegates from USA, Dr A S Nakedar, Dr Rahul Deepankar, Imtiazuddin, Dr Shakir Mukhi, S M Qureshi, and Dr Aslam Abdullah, from Canada Ayyub Khan, Sirajuddin from UK and Husain Waheed from Saudi Arabia participated.
Some other prominent leaders who participated in the meeting were Shoaib Iqbal, Sardar Harmeet Singh, Asim Khan, Afzal Abbas, Sabir Khan and Hojjatoeslam Kalbe Rushaid Razavi.
The International Dalit and Minorities Conference was held in New Delhi on 27-28 December last year in which delegates from 87 countries participated and an executive committee was constituted comprising 24 conveners from different countries.