Bengaluru: An Eid Milan organised by All Karnataka United Christians’ Forum for Human Rights (AKUCFHR) under the leadership of the Archbishop of Bangalore Dr Bernard Moras turned out to be veritable convention on inter-religious dialogue with leaders of Christian and Muslim communities espousing the values of love, compassion and brotherhood as the essentials of all religions, which never support or condone violence and terrorism. “Mercy of God in our life” was the theme and the mercy was emphasized in the context of the Terrorism in the world.
Moulvis of the Muslim community and leaders of different Christian denominations besides Sikhs, Jains and Parsees along with a large number of priests and nuns joined the Eid Milan held at the Paalana Bhavan in the Archbishop’s House, in which Urban Development Minister R Roshan Baig, Food and Civil Supplies Minister U T Khader, Government Chief Whip in the Legislative Council Ivan D’Souza, MLA N A Harris, MLC Rizvan Arshad, former MP H T Sangliana, former minister J Alexander, former MLA Ivan Nigli, former DGP F T R Colaco and many other prominent personalities took part. Fr A S Anthonyswamy Chancellor and PRO Archdiocese of Bangalore was present Archbishop Moras set the tone for the Eid Milan by Christians and Muslims shared similar religious values, beliefs and espoused love, mercy, compassion and helping the poor and needy. The month of Ramzan marked by 40 days of fasting, prayers and alms-giving should purify the believers. Violence and terrorism have no place in religion and nobody had the right to justify violence and terrorism as sanctioned by religion through misinterpretation of holy books, he said strongly condemning the wave of terrorist acts in France, Brazil, Bangladesh and other countries in the recent past.
The Archbishop in his Presidential address spoke on the theme of “Mercy” as explained by Pope Francis in his letter to the universe. He explained how the God of Mercy is concerned with the humanity and how much he have does to take care of each individual. God’s love is a forgiving love where he shows mercy towards his created world. It is our task to understand this gift of God and share it with others. He invited the members present to put into practice this call to mercy and to live as brothers and sisters in this world. “It is the bounden duty of all people to work for the upliftment of the poor and exploited sections of society besides working for peace and harmony,” the Archbishop said.
Ministers Roshan Baig and U T Khader, in their messages to the gathering, complimented the Archbishop for his gesture of celebrating Eid Milan and said such an initiative was necessary to foster and promote inter-religious dialogue and peaceful co-existence. It is necessary to create an environment of communal harmony and secular beliefs so that all citizens were free to practice and propagate their respective religions without affecting the rights of others, they said and made it clear that Islam never supported or espoused violence.
Roshan Baig lauded Pope Francis for showing his concern for the immigrants of Syria in the recent conflict and asking the European countries to take the lead in providing food and shelter to the helpless immigrants, which was the main reason for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to open the doors of her country to shelter the immigrants.
U T Khader said unity and brotherhood along with love and service to the poor and deprived sections were the key principles and values propagated by Christianity and Islam as also all other religions. “We need to love and be compassionate to the less privileged sections of society and always follow the principles of equality, fraternity and secularism enshrined in the Constitution. Minorities should never become communal as it would harm their interests while the majority people turning communal would harm society and the entire country,” he said.
Former minister J Alexander said Muslims and Christians as also people professing other religions must rise above narrow and petty differences and be all inclusive to celebrate the togetherness of humanity. “We need love, faith, hope and charity besides love and compassion to become true followers to each other’s respective religions,” he said.
Congress MLA N A Haris warmly complimented Archbishop Moras for his dynamism and efforts to foster inter-religious unity and dialogue.
Maulan Sahid Naqvi gave a brief reflection on the inner meaning of Ramazan festival and its integration with the society. We need collective effort in building up of harmonious society without hurting any individual or community. Unless we work together we will not succeed in life he added.
Fr Eugene Lobo SJ, Secretary Karnataka Regional Commission for Education and Public Relations Officer of Karnataka Region Catholic Bishops’ Council (KRCBC), welcomed the gathering. Fr Victor Lobo, Principal of St Joseph’s College, spoke on the significance of Ramzan and the values and principles of Islam. Maulana Shahid Naqvi and Jeyaraj, read passages from Bible and Quran. Rev S Arokiaswamy, proposed a vote of thanks. Fr Francis D’ Souza SJ Administrator Indian Social Institute was the Master of Ceremonies. Over 500 people attended the celebration of Eid Milan at Paalana Bhavan.
