Sarva Seva Sangh Call for 36 Hour Fast for Peace and Harmony 5th and 6th April 2016 at Rajghat, New Delhi

By Dilip -
Sarva Seva Sangh Call for 36 Hour Fast for Peace and Harmony 5th and 6th April 2016 at Rajghat, New Delhi

 Fanatic frenzy spread in the name of patriotism and religion is not in the interest of the country or religion


March 8, 2016
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Sadar Jai Jagat!

The Executive Committee of Sarva Seva Sangh which met at Mourigram (Howrah) West Bengal on 25-26 February 2016 took serious note of the fanatic frenzy spread in the name of patriotism and religion and declared that it is not in the interest of the country or religion and decided to organize a 36 Hour Fast for Peace and Harmony on April 5 and 6, 2016 at Rajghat, New Delhi. A Press Release is enclosed herewith for your information. Kindly circulate this Press Release and give it a wide publicity in your areas.

Please participate in the event and ensure that large number of Lok Sevaks, Sarvodaya Mitras and Sarvodaya Karyakarthas participate in this event. Please make your travel plans so as to reach New Delhi on April 4 evening or early morning of April 5. Sarva Seva Sangh will arrange for accommodation and other logistics in Delhi.

Please do confirm your participation to this Office and intimate your travel plans to :

Sri Ashok Sharan : 9416005533 (Mobile)
Email: sharanashok@yahoo.co.in

Yours Sincerely,
GVVSDS Prasad, Secretary


FANATIC FRENZY SPREAD IN THE NAME OF PATRIOTISM AND RELIGION IS NOT IN THE INTEREST OF THE COUNTRY OR RELIGION
  
36 Hour Fast for Peace and Harmony 5th and 6th April 2016 at Rajghat, New Delhi

Sevagram: The National Executive Committee Meeting of Sarva Seva Sangh (All India Sarvodaya Mandal) which met at Mourigram (Howrah) West Bengal on 25-26 February 2016 expressed its grief and concern over the increasing happening of undesirable incidents around the country. These incidents may be of extremist nature, irresponsible criticisms, Communal riots or curtailing the autonomy and restrictions on educational institutions, the suicide of Rohit Vemula who was a student of University of Hyderabad, or of the happenings in the campus of J N U. We are dazed at these incidents and feel hurt.

It is absolutely wrong to shout slogans wishing India’s ruin during a programme in JNU campus. But the backlash after this incident to distribute pamphlets of patriotism is equally worrying to peace loving citizen who support and uphold democracy in the country. Attacks on students and media persons in Patiala House Court in the presence of Police indicate a deep-rooted conspiracy.

The lawless atmosphere in the name of patriotism is a threat to the freedom of expression of the citizen. Such incidents which shake the roots of democracy are creating an atmosphere of undeclared emergency. Let us understand that the law of sedition was used by the British to protect their imperialistic interests and to oppress Indians and it is still being used in free India today. It is necessary to rethink on this law.

The following saying of Loknayak Jayaprakash Narayan would be of guidance for us:

“Freedom had been my life’s beacon light, which remains so till today. As we progress with time, this freedom should transcend from the freedom of the country to not only the freedom of people from all forms of bondage in all places but progressing to the freedom of human personality, freedom of thoughts, freedom of the soul. Freedom has become an article of faith in my life. I cannot compromise my freedom for food, power, safety, prosperity, prestige of the state or for any other thing.”

Sarva Seva Sangh is an organization founded on the lofty ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, Loknayak Jayaprakashnarayan and perpetuates their legacy. We reject the concept of parochial nationalism or communalism. The fanatic frenzy spread in the name of Nationalism or in the name of Religion is in the interest of neither the country nor the religion.

In this context, a quotation of Acharya Vinoba Bhave is ideal for the whole world:

We are not a special admirer of any country, not committed specially to any religion;
not bound specially to any caste.

Assimilation of all noble thoughts – is our Religion To establish harmony in different ideas

To evolve and develop universal thinking - is our philosophical mission.

Shri Mahadev Vidrohi, President of Sarva Seva Sangh appealed to all parties and conscious citizen for their constructive role to bring to an end these happenings and to have a debate. In this context, Sarva Seva Sangh decided to organize a 36-hour fast for Peace and Harmony on April 5 and 6, 2016 at Rajghat, New Delhi. It may be remembered that April 6 is Salt Satyagraha Day. It is on this day in 1930 that Father of the Nation, Mahatma Gandhi made Salt and offered his Satyagraha. This incident had shaken the foundations of the British Empire.

Bhavani Shankar Kusum
National Spokesperson
Sarva Seva Sangh

 Also see:

What is to be Undone

Popular posts from this blog

Third degree torture used on Maruti workers: Rights body

By Dilip -
The People’s Union for Democratic Rights on Tuesday alleged that third degree torture methods were used by the Gurgaon Criminal Investigation Agency while interrogating workers of Maruti Suzuki India Limited’s Manesar plant who are accused of involvement in the killing of an HR manager and the violent attack at the plant on July 18. The PUDR alleged that the Gurgaon CIA investigation “did not seem” to be directed at solving the crime or probing the involvement of the arrested workers in the incidents and crimes recorded in the FIR but instead was based on their involvement in trade union activities. Grave doubts  “The use of third degree torture in police custody, and the securing of arrestees’ signatures on blank papers by the police, gives rise to grave doubts regarding the ability of such an investigation in effectively identifying or arresting those guilty. The police and the State seem keener to reassure Maruti Suzuki Ltd. and ensure that production continues,” the PUDR stat
Read more

Haruki Murakami: On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning

By Dilip -
According to Murakami, “1Q84” is just an amplification of one of his most popular short stories,   which (in its English version) is five pages long. “Basically, it’s the same,” he told me. “A boy meets a girl. They have separated and are looking for each other. It’s a simple story. I just made it long.” One beautiful April morning, on a narrow side street in Tokyo's fashionable Harujuku neighborhood, I walked past the 100% perfect girl. Tell you the truth, she's not that good-looking. She doesn't stand out in any way. Her clothes are nothing special. The back of her hair is still bent out of shape from sleep. She isn't young, either - must be near thirty, not even close to a "girl," properly speaking. But still, I know from fifty yards away: She's the 100% perfect girl for me. The moment I see her, there's a rumbling in my chest, and my mouth is as dry as a desert..." read the story: http://www.youmightfindyourself.com/post/22131227
Read more

The Almond Trees by Albert Camus (1940)

By Dilip -
Image
'Do you know', Napoleon once said to Fontanes, 'what astounds me most about the world?  The impotence of force to establish anything.  There are only two powers in the world: the sword and the mind.  In the end, the sword is always conquered by the mind' Conquerors, you see, are sometimes melancholy.  They have to pay some price for so much vainglory. But what a hundred years ago was true of the sword is no longer true today of the tank. Conquerors have made progress, and the dismal silence of places without intelligence has been established for years at a time in a lacerated Europe. At the time of the hideous wars of Flanders, Dutch painters could still perhaps paint the cockerels in their farmyards. The Hundred Years War has likewise been forgotten, and yet the prayers of Silesian mystics still linger in some hearts. But today, things have changed; the painter and the monk have been drafted - we are one with the world.  The mind has lost that regal certainty which a c
Read more

Albert Camus's lecture 'The Human Crisis', New York, March 1946. 'No cause justifies the murder of innocents'

By Dilip -
The morning after a great historical crisis, you feel as sad and sick as after a heavy night. But there is no aspirin for historical hangovers .. The world is no longer divided into the just or unjust, but into masters and slaves. He who is right is he who enslaves.  Albert Camus     La crise de l'homme : THE HUMAN CRISIS   (Text read by Viggo Mortensen on March 28 2016)   Ladies and Gentlemen: when I was invited to give a series of lectures in the United States of America, I felt some doubt and hesitation. I am really not old enough to give lectures, and I am more at ease with the process of thinking than I am making categorical statements... since I don't feel I have any claim on what is generally called the truth. I shared this reservation and was very politely told that my personal opinion didn't matter. What mattered was that I'd be able to offer some facts about France so that my listeners could form their own opinions. It was then suggested that I might
Read more

Etel Adnan - To Be In A Time Of War

By Dilip -
NB: Etel Adnan, writer, poet, artist and musician was born in 1925 and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. Her mother was a Greek from Smyrna, her father, a high ranking Ottoman officer born in Damascus. This prose poem is the final chapter of her book  In the Heart of the Heart of Another Country .  Read more about her here  - DS To Be In A Time Of War To say nothing, do nothing, mark time, to bend, to straighten up, to blame oneself, to stand, to go toward the window, to change one’s mind in the process, to return to one’s chair, to stand again, to go to the bathroom, to close the door, to then open the door, to go to the kitchen, to not eat nor drink, to return to the table, to be bored, to take a few steps on the rug, to come close to the chimney, to look at it, to find it dull, to turn left until the main door, to come back to the room, to hesitate, to go on, just a bit, a trifle, to stop, to pull the right side of the curtain, then the other side, to stare at
Read more

After the Truth Shower

By Dilip -
Dear Readers Thank you for reading my blog for the past eleven years. (This is a link to the new one) During this time it has had nearly 1.7 million hits; and I have posted over 9500 posts covering a variety of themes. From July 11 to 19, 2022, my blog was withdrawn by the Blogger administration on account of what its machinery suspected to be 'Impersonation'. It took over a week and the efforts of several well-wishers to get it back online I thank them all for their kindness and goodwill  My blog has always been - and remains - non-commercial. I have used it for academic purposes; and to foster a culture of debate and informed commentary in civil society. Because it contains a large amount of material gathered and collated for over a decade, I cannot afford to lose its contents. I hope it will remain undisturbed now and function as an archive. However, I have decided to use a new blog on WordPress as a platform for my newest comments and posts The new blog is titled After the
Read more

Rudyard Kipling: critical essay by George Orwell (1942)

By Dilip -
Mother of Cities to me, For I was born in her gate, Between the palms and the sea, Where the world-end steamers wait  Rudyard Kipling , To the City of Bombay "Few people who have criticized England from the inside have said bitterer things about her than this gutter patriot" : George Orwell IT WAS a pity that Mr. Eliot should be so much on the defensive in the long essay with which he prefaces this selection of Kipling's poetry, but it was not to be avoided, because before one can even speak about Kipling one has to clear away a legend that has been created by two sets of people who have not read his works. Kipling is in the peculiar position of having been a byword for fifty years. During five literary generations every enlightened person has despised him, and at the end of that time nine-tenths of those enlightened persons are forgotten and Kipling is in some sense still there. Mr. Eliot never satisfactorily explains this fact, because in answering the shal
Read more