New Delhi: Former judges, scholars, legal experts and activists have raised serious concerns over rising communal polarization in the country and called it a serious threat to India and the democratic and constitutional values.
In a webinar organized by Forum for Democracy and Communal amity (FDCA) titled ‘Rising communal Polarisation, A threat to India’s Future’, Prof. Muchkund Dubey—former ambassador and administrative head of Indian Foreign Service—said that the communal divide in this country is getting wider by day.
“The divide is perceptible, mainly in a few forms and one is that the rights of our minority communities, particularly the 200 million Muslims, are being violated in a variety of forms and ways. Secondly, their life and liberty is being put in jeopardy and they are increasingly feeling insecure in their own country. They are also saying that there is an erosion of their religious identity,” he said.
Dubey, who was presiding over the webinar, added that it became evident in which the police is playing its role in the course of the implementation of the legislations adopted recently in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. “This is not happening at random. This is deliberate, well-planned and concerted and it has been the agenda of the ruling party for a long time,” he said.
“A nation cannot utilize its capacity to the optimum extent when almost 20 per cent of its population lives under threat to life, liberty, property, its identity and heritage. India can never be a prosperous and advanced country with communal polarization, as well as alienating more than 200 million people and denying the rights of minorities,” Dubey concluded.
Former judge in Kerala and Mumbai high courts Justice K Sukumaran, Vice-Chancellor of NALSAR Prof. Faizan Mustafa, former judge of the Supreme Court Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly, RTI activist Mr. Dankesh Oza were among the scholars who participated in the webinar. They reiterated that communal polarization is a weapon of exploitation.