Vijayawada: Noted Supreme Court lawyer Prashant Bhushan said unity in diversity is the strength of India and alleged that the BJP was playing communal politics by dividing the people in the name of religion.

He said through the spread of message of love and harmony we can stop the hate campaign in the country. Prashant Bhushan participated in a conference organised by Society for Communal harmony, New Delhi. Social activists, political leaders and advocates from Delhi, representatives of civil society organisations, Muslims and activists of Left parties and the Congress attended the meeting.

Prashant Bhushan alleged that the BJP’s troll army, Whatsapp university and social media platforms were spreading hate against the Muslims and trying to divide the people for the political gains. He suggested that committees should be formed in the cities and towns with reputed people of different faiths and all festivals should be celebrated together to maintain the communal harmony.

He lamented that no action was taken against hate mongers and perpetrators of violence in States like Uttar Pradesh. He said the culprits should be brought to the justice and action should be taken against the persons spreading hate. He said secular forces have to work in an organised manner to counter the hate campaign in the society and social media platforms should be used to spread the message of love and harmony.

He said after Independence our leaders had seen a dream that the people of India live together with peace and harmony but the BJP for the short time goals is dividing the people on the name of religion. He said people who think of getting benefits by causing loss to others will never succeed. He said German dictator Adolf Hitler had faced devastating consequence and committed suicide and warned that people who believe in power and destroying others will not survive for a long time.

K Vijay Rao, son of former Union minister, former Vijayawada MP and noted engineer KL Rao took the initiative and organised the unity meeting. Vijay Rao delivered a message on the importance of unity among the people of India. Vijay Rao came from Delhi and recalled the British divided the people of India for political gains. He criticised the policies of the BJP and stressed the need to check hate campaign in the country.

Rajya Sabha member Imran Pratapgarhi said the Wakf Amendment Bill was passed due to the support given by TDP and JDU in Parliament. He said the BJP with its force passed the Bill which he described as illegal and unconstitutional. He said 232 MPs opposed the Bill in Lok Sabha.

CPM State secretary V Srinivasa Rao, CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna, Congress leader Mastan Vali, Muslims associations, lawyers, representatives of civil society organisation, activists of the Left parties, students unions and a large number of Muslims participated in the conference.

Photo caption: Supreme Court advocate Prashant Bhushan addressing a conference, ‘Samaikya Sankharavam’, in Vijayawada on Sunday Photo: Ch Venkata Mastan