Emboldened by the recent Supreme Court (SC) stay on the conviction of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in a criminal defamation case, the Kerala unit of the party has vowed to defeat any attempt to divide people on communal lines.
The declaration was made at ‘Janasadassu’, a public event organised by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee against the proposed Uniform Civil Code and the violence in Manipur, here on Saturday.
Opening the event, Opposition leader V.D. Satheesan said that the Congress would not allow anyone to endanger national unity. “We will strive to uproot communalism from the country. We don’t need the votes of communalists either,” he said. The Congress leader pointed out that the fundamental difference between the Western idea of secularism and Indian secularism was in its approach to religion. While the Western secularists completely reject religions, Indian secularism was rooted in their inclusion. “Here, we have the right to believe or not to believe in a religion. We can profess or propagate our religion as well,” Mr. Satheesan said.
