Report on 2 day meet on fostering secular values: the role of literature and media

The Hindu
25 July 2009

Writers urged to be secular

Correspondent

BHUBANESWAR: In a communally-sensitive country like India where religion plays a crucial role, writers should be secular and work towards putting the nation and religion at a safe distance from each other.

This was the unanimous view of participants, who attended the just concluded two-day seminar on “Strengthening communal harmony and fostering secular values; the role of literature and media”.

The seminar was hosted by six city-based non-governmental organizations - Odisha Samskruti Academy, Common Concern, Citizens Initiative, NAWO, ODAAF and Prasanti.

Spread over six sessions that included deliberations on the issues and poetry recitation, it received rave response from the writers and intellectuals.

Kedar Mishra, seminar convener and chairperson of Orissa Samskruti Academy, explained the objectives of the meet.

Rajiv Bhargab, political scientist and director of the New Delhi-based Centre for Social Development Studies, who interacted with the gathering during the inaugural session, was of the opinion that national integration gets threat when the number of people having no trust in secularism rises.

The nation must have the final authority over religious matters, he felt.

Nation must come first for the citizens and not the religion, he emphasized and urged the writers and the media to sensitise people about their role in maintaining the secular fabric and national integrity of the country.

Delhi-based poet and professor of public administration Bishnu Mohapatra and Orissa’s noted social commentators Pritish Acharya, Sudhir Patnaik and Abhiram Biswal also deliberated during the session that was chaired by Professor Jatin Nayak of Utkal University.

Lively deliberations

The concluding day’s sessions were lively with presentations by three prominent intellectuals and writers of the nation – Allahabad-based Dalit Resource Centre director Professor Badri Narayan, All-India Secularists’ Forum secretary Ram Puniyani and noted columnist Bibhuti Patnaik. Their deliberations were focused on the role of literature in containing communalism and vice versa.

Himansu Mohapatra was in chair. Twenty-five participated in the poetry recitation session.