Hyderabad: Prof. Satish Kumar Rai, President of the Indian Society of Gandhian Studies said, “Mahatma Gandhi is not only the past but also the future. He was a believer in the difference of opinion and promoted resolving them through dialogue.”
Prof. Satish Kumar Rai was addressing the 45th annual conference of the Indian Society of Gandhian Studies (ISGS) at Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) on January 27 (Monday).
He was speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day conference on “Mahatma Gandhi’s Journalism and its Relevance in the Modern Era.” The conference was organised by the Department of Mass Communication and Journalism in collaboration with ISGS.
Prof. Syed Ainul Hasan, Vice-Chancellor presided over the inaugural session.
According to Prof. Satish without speaking about the contribution of Gandhi no positive work can be done during any national and international debate. Gandhi’s ideas are useful for improving the situation of journalism today.
Prof. Ainul Hasan said that thinkers from Iran and Central Asia have also written a lot on Gandhi and India’s struggle for freedom.
According to him, Iranian scholars considered Gandhiji to be a great personality of the century. Gandhiji’s book on non-violence was translated into Persian by Iran’s Ali Khamenei. He said that it is not possible to escape from Gandhi’s ideas to improve the quality of journalism in the present era.
Prof. R. Dwivedi, former Director of Gandhian Studies, Kashi Vidyapeeth, said it is the responsibility of the East to maintain world peace and India can play a leading role in this direction.
In his keynote address, Prof. Dwivedi said India is an amalgamation of different civilizations. Gandhiji wanted to propagate non-violence through journalism. He considered journalism as a mission whose responsibility is to reduce the distance between the government and the people.
Upendra Rai, CMD, Bharat News Express, called Gandhiji the most important personality of the twentieth century because he was a freedom fighter as well as a great journalist. He used to reply to all letters addressed to him personally and it is estimated that he replied to about 70,000 letters by hand. Gandhiji was so committed to the supremacy of his journalistic principles that he did not accept advertisements for his newspapers.
Dr. Shahnawaz Alam, Unity and Peace Foundation Bihar, and Dr. Saima Suhrawardy also addressed the inaugural session.
Earlier, Dr. Mohd Mustafa Ali Sarwari, Public Relations Officer delivered the opening remarks. Prof. Mohammad Fariyad, Conference Convener welcomed the guests. Prof. Sita Ram Chaudhry proposed the vote of thanks and Meraj Ahmed, Assistant Professor, conducted the proceedings.
