Raipur, June 29 (IANS). RSS national executive member Indresh Kumar spoke in detail on conversion and UCC while interacting with the media in Raipur on Monday. He said that religions in the country should be respected, not conversion.
While talking to the media, Indresh Kumar said that the truth is that religious conversion should not happen in any country. Respect for religions is a basic constitutional value and also a fundamental right. Therefore, India is the only country in which all the religions, castes and sub-religions that originated in India are present here. Not only this, the religions which originated outside India, like Judaism, Parsi, Muslim, Christianity etc., have also been fully accepted here. There should not be religious conversion within the country, but there should be respect for religions. This is true democracy. If we follow this, a strong India will be created and the path to peace and harmony will open.
He said that only India can do this work. Therefore our message is to respect religions, not to convert.
Amid preparations to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in West Bengal, Indresh Kumar said, “We are one country, one people and have one flag. We the people of India are all Indians and are known as Hindustani. UCC does not interfere in any kind of fundamental freedoms. Whatever the caste and sectarian differences, their freedoms will remain for everyone. Therefore, within this country, Jains, Buddhists, Sikhs, Ambedkarites, Arya Samajists, Sanatani, Kabirpanthi, Scheduled Tribes did not oppose UCC. The problem is only with some political groups who try to instigate minorities through vote-bank politics.
I would like to tell all Muslims to think like Indians. In any country in the world, a Muslim is not identified only as ‘Muslim’. A person from Arabia is called Arab, a person from Türkiye is called Turk, a person from Iran is called Iranian and a person from Iraq is called Iraqi. In the same way, in any Christian majority country, citizens are not identified only as Christians, a person from Britain is called a British, a person from America is called an American. Similarly, people in India irrespective of their religion, caste, language, origin or region, all of them are Indians. We were Indians, are Indians and will remain Indians. No one can take away this right from us.
He said that one should not be afraid of UCC. One should live as a mainstream citizen. We are not foreigners or tenants, we are native citizens of this country. Therefore, UCC should not be opposed but welcomed. Even after independence, political parties deprived Muslims of the mainstream of development. Now the time has come for them to come and live in the mainstream.
–IANS
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