Scrap religion-based reservation: Hindu meet

Goa, Jun 11, 2012: The All India Hindu Convention that began on Sunday has demanded scrapping of religion based reservations and sought amendments to the Indian Constitution to enable every religion to avail benefits of reservation.

The convention organized by the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) is underway at Ramnathi in Ponda.

HJS national coordinator Chittaranjan Sural said the Indian government is deliberately depriving Hindus several benefits merely to gain political mileage. He alleged that attempts are made to target votes of a particular religion by tempting them with reservations.

He demanded that the UPA government implement the common civic code in force in Goa across the nation and claimed that the Sachchar committee report be abolished to prevent discrimination among religions.

He also demanded that the government enact laws to prevent religious conversions and protect cows.

The four-day convention is being attended by 174 dignitaries from 20 states including senior religious leaders, Hindu activists, saints, religious heads, intellectuals, lawyers and journalists.From P 1

Addressing the convention Sural appealed to Hindus to create pressure groups and express their anger against the government at the polling booth.

‘Tarun Hindu’ president Neel Madhav Das from Jharkhand said the then government in 1976 had included the word ‘secular’ in the preamble of the constitution by the 42nd amendment, which he alleged was a fraud. India and Nepal are the only two countries having the word secular in their constitutions. No other country in the world has the word in its constitution, Das said.

Stating that the convention is not against any religion, HJS national guide Charudatta Pingale said Hindus need spiritual development to prosper in the world.

Shri Ram Sena leader Pramod Mutalik opposed nationalization of temples. He said temples are not offices that run between 10am and 6pm. “Devotees will visit temples at any time,” Mutalik said.

The first day of the convention focused on topics such as the state of Hindus in Kashmir, government takeover of Hindu temples, communal violence bill, the conspiracy of saffron terrorism, cow protection, religious conversions, infiltration, love jihad and distortion of history

An action-plan will be discussed and further course of action for Hindu unity from the perspective of establishment of the Hindu nation will also be decided during the course of the convention.

– timesofindia