Narendra Modi ‘most secular and progressive’ PM in the history of independent India, declare religious and spiritual leaders in Australia

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the “most secular and progressive” PM in the history of independent India, asserted religious and spiritual leaders of different communities who participated in an event on communal harmony for world peace held in Australia’s Melbourne on Sunday.

Organised by the Indian Minorities Foundation (IMF), NID Foundation New Delhi and Namdhari Sikh Society, Melbourne Australia Vishwa Sadbhawana organised at Bunjil Palace lauded PM Modi’s vision of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (the whole world’s one family) to every corner of the globe and took forward the PM’s idea of ‘Sadbhawna’, or world peace, all round the world.

It was attended by the chief patron of NID foundation Sardar Satnam Singh Sandhu; co-founder NID foundation Himani Sood; Australian Member of Parliament Jason Wood; Bishop Philip Huggins of Anglican Church; Abanoub Attalla of the orthodox church; Brahma Smaran Das, representative of Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS); Abhijeet Bhide, Member of Hindu Council Australia; Imtiaz Naveed Ahmed, of Ahmadiyya Muslim community; Bhante Adhisila, Buddhist head leader; Srinivasan from Hindu Temple of Victoria; Mustafa Poonawala, Dawoodi Bohra Muslim leader; Sitesh Bhojani of BAPS Australia; Swami Sunishthananda of Vedanta Community and Sri Ram Das of Harre Rama Harre Krishna society.

Several religious leaders, intellectuals, scholars, preachers and researchers also graced the occasion, including Dr Tariq Butt of Ahmadiyya Muslim community and Taha Shakir of Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community.

Satnam Singh Sandhu, also presented the book ‘heartfelt legacy to the faith’ which is on the contributions and works done by PM Modi for the Sikh community.

Sandhu, in his address to the gathering, said that people belonging to different communities and religions have lived in India for centuries and believe in communal harmony.

“Guru Granth Sahib is the best example of religious harmony and unity. Because it contains not only the teachings of nine Sikh Gurus but also the teachings of fifteen bhagats and 11 Bhatts as well,” he said.

“Under the leadership of PM Modi, India in the last nine years has rapidly advanced on its path to be a developed nation and has become the world’s fifth largest economy. Like many other countries, all the communities in India enjoy full freedom and are given all opportunities without any discrimination of caste, creed, or religion and feel safe under the leadership of PM Modi,” he added saying that PM Modi is the “most secular and progressive PM” in the history of independent India.

While lauding the Modi government, he said that there is a clear difference in the developmental work that was carried out in the last 9 years in the country than the work done during the 65 years before that.

Brahma Smaran Das, representative of Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) said, “Inter-faith harmony is the greatest necessity of our age, which can only be achieved through personal transformation leading to global transformation. It is when the message of peace, respect and acceptance reaches every individual, the whole world will become one.”

The spiritual leader of the Namdhari community, Satguru Uday Singh said that religion unites everyone and religion’s meaning is love and peace. “The world has made immense development in every field but it gets true peace only through religion,” he said, adding that it is the duty of all of us not to fight but join hands for world peace. “We should focus on religious harmony and world peace, transcending regional differences and inspire everyone to do so,” he said, adding that never promotes discrimination of any kind.

Indian Ambassador to Australia, Manpreet Vohra, said that PM Modi has transformed the global image of India. Now India’s voice on various global issues is heard. Every nation of the world looks up to India for its issues and support.

“India is part/partner of every important global grouping bilateral, multilateral like QUAD. All this has been possible due to the recent development that has taken place during the last decade. India is an important component for the world’s future,” he said, adding that this year as India is holding the presidency of G-20. The logo of G-20, which India has devised also drives its inspiration from the concept ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’. The logo says ‘one world, one family, one future’ because it is important for all of us to consider each other as family and have the common future of love, peace, harmony, prosperity, and brotherhood.

He recalled that NID Foundation’s journey of taking forward Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of Sadbhawna around the world started from the PM residence last year. Vohra said that it has transformed into a movement which is bringing people of different communities together on a common platform. The progress which we used to dream that India would take the centre-stage of the world as a powerful nation has now been fulfilled.

Speaking on the sidelines of Sadbhavana, Australian Member of Parliament Jason Wood, who is the shadow minister for Community Safety, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs, said: “This was a fabulous event to have all the religious leaders together with one voice of peace and harmony. It was wonderful to see so many faith leaders talk about the need for world peace. It is important to have religious leaders sending positive messages around the world”.

He also said that besides the Australian community, the Indian Australian community is very excited about PM Modi’s forthcoming visit to Australia. He is the leader of the world’s biggest democracy and we are very proud that he is coming to our country. “We admire PM Modi’s ability to respect all people and the spirit of working together and his humbleness. Under his leadership India now is being regarded as having entrepreneurs and where your hard-work is rewarded,” said Wood.

A member of Ahmadiyya Muslim community Victoria, Dr Tariq Butt, who is from Pakistan and now lives in Australia, said that this event is a great initiative and uniting Hindu and Muslim communities together and bringing them on one platform. He said that PM Modi is doing the right thing by encouraging the communities to engage with other communities to promote harmony and peace. While talking about the leadership of PM Modi, he said, “PM Modi has the charisma where people are following him regardless of their religious inclination which is good.”

Taha Shakir from Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community, said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi while inaugurating the new campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah Arabic Academy at Marol in Mumbai, said that he is visiting the campus as a ‘family member’. The PM inaugurated the campus in February. “We now have a good relationship and we have enjoyed a really good time in the last nine years and our community respects PM Modi. Our community will be there in Sydney to greet him when he arrives,” he said, who is also of Pakistani origin in Australia. Talking about the Indian minority communities, he said, “I travel to India a lot of times, we have religious shrines there, I can say that people from all minorities live together in harmony. I have seen it personally”.

Philip James Huggins, Bishop in the Anglican Church of Australia, said that Sadbhawna event had the spirit of friendship and love. “The relationship between India and Australia has blossomed under the leadership of PM Modi. We have recently seen cricket diplomacy between the two countries. There is a beautiful feature of Indian Democracy is inclusive participation of different communities in each other’s festivals and rituals,” he said, adding that I do not adhere to the narrative being built against India that minorities are being targeted. He also said that In India the majority population makes it easier for the minority communities to live together and progress and India is both spiritual and secular”.

Srinivasan from Hindu Temple of Victoria said, “Vishwa Sadbhavna has brought representatives of different faiths on a common platform who believe in universal peace, one family, one world, and one future.” He further added Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the last 9 years has worked for lifting the global image of India and Indians through his work, and the world now recognizes India as a place of opportunities.

Sitesh Bhojani, BAPS Trustee Australia said, “PM Modi is not uniting India as a country but he is taking the entire world as one family. He has changed the global image of the country and has also been instrumental in taking Indian Culture, Practices and Civilizations spread through YOGA, which today is practiced and celebrated in 120 countries though International Yoga Day.”

Abhijeet Bhide, Member of Hindu Council Australia, said, “Events like Sadbhavna can counter the anti-social and anti-India events happening across the world, where religious leaders of different communities can come together on common platform to deliver the message of communal harmony to the people of their respective community.”