By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi: The forces that call Indian Muslims anti-national have some other forces on their back; in fact they themselves are anti-national, said veteran journalist Amrish Mishra in a program in New Delhi on 3rd March.
He was addressing a seminar on “Terrorism and Fascism” organized here at Press Club of India under the auspices of Urdu Press Club. He also expressed concern on Israel’s growing presence in India and India-Israel relations. The speakers unanimously said terrorism and fascism were two sides of the same coin.
Dr. Ali Javed, director of the National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language (NCPUL), said the people of the country were yet to know who was behind the attack on Indian Parliament on 13th December 2001. A demand for a parliamentary committee to investigate into the attack was not supported by political parties, he said.
Author and social activist Arundhati Roy was critical of how Nandigram (West Bengal) issue was diverted. Nandigram is a Muslim majority area and when the residents were fighting for their rights, someone raised author Taslima Nasrin’s issue and what happened later is known to all, she said. The locals were against the acquisition of their land for an SEZ project. Many of the locals were killed in the violence erupted in the wake of their protest. Roy said if Taslima had not been opposed so vehemently, her writings and she herself would have become history.
The seminar was also addressed by Surender Jain, secretary of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Hindi journalist Manoj Raghuvanshi and Delhi University teacher S.A.R. Gilani. Gilani was implicated in the Parliament attack case but was later acquitted by the Delhi High Court and Supreme Court.
The seminar, however, ended abruptly when Surendra Jain refused to apologize and withdraw his statement about Prophet Muhammad that had angered the audience. As soon as he made the remarks, he was stopped in the middle of his speech and the audience demanded him to apologize. Amrish Mishra also advised Jain to withdraw his remarks and apologize but he refused. Thereupon he was barred from speaking and he left the venue.