Interfaith Dialogue Promotes Proximity

INTERFAITH DIALOGUE PROMOTES PROXIMITY live. I am searching for this real path on which the future of this country should walk.” According to the report of The Times of India (December 29, 1992), he said, “As a Prime Minister, I was like a thirsty traveller looking for water. But instead of water, I stepped into a mirage.’” (p. 4) One member of our Shanti Yatra team was retired Justice Chandra Shekhar Dharmadhikari. In one of his speeches, he recounted an incident from around 1920, before independence. It happened at a gathering in Lahore, where a Muslim barrister, Mr. Alam, was delivering a speech. From the audience, someone asked him whether he was a Muslim or Indian first. The barrister replied that the question was incorrect. He said the proper way to ask such a question would be to ask whether someone was born to his mother or father first. He explained that a person is born to his father and mother simultaneously. Similarly, he said, he is both a Muslim and an Indian simultaneously. Justice Chander Shekhar delivered this speech on December 21 at a peace conference in Nagpur. Upon hearing it, I remarked that this is the most natural answer to such a question. Some of our leaders saying ‘I am Muslim first and then Indian’ is undoubtedly a meaningless statement. It has no relation to Islam or reason. The peace caravan consisted of several vehicles. Acharya Sushil Kumar, Swami Chidanand, and I were in one vehicle. The driver of this vehicle was a Muslim. The organizers had stocked fruits, snacks, tea, etc., in sufficient quantity inside the vehicle. Whenever something was taken out to eat, I noticed Swami Chidanand insisting on