Students and teachers from several faiths took part in a rally on Friday to highlight the contribution of the Church to nation-building through its service in education and healthcare, ignoring barriers based on caste, creed and religion.
Adrija Bhattacharya, a student of Union Chapel School, walked alongside her classmate Valentina D’souza through Jawaharlal Nehru Road.
A teacher of the school said the presence of the two summed up what the Church stands for: “Inclusivity that India has been known for” Debolina Nag, a teacher at Pratt Memorial School, said Church-run institutions “do not drive away a student because she comes wearing a hijab or an armlet”.
Students and teachers from several faiths in a rally on Friday to highlight the contribution of the Church to nation-building through its service in education and health care, ignoring barriers based on caste, creed and religion. The rally started from St Paul’s Cathedral and ended at the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road. Bishwarup Dutta
“This message of acceptance of others forms the crux of nation-building and needs to be highlighted more and more to defeat a divisive culture,” she said.
“We are a secular country.” Reverend Paritosh Canning, bishop of Kolkata, who led the march, said minorities, be it Christians or Muslims, “have generously contributed towards building the nation and must be given their due recognition”.
Rupkatha Sarkar, principal of La Martiniere for Girls, who walked along with some of her students and teachers, said in her institution, students and teachers from all faiths study and teach in large numbers.
At a time when there is so much of “unacceptance” of people, there is a need to highlight this message of inclusion, she said. “We don’t accept each other, our food, our culture. We try to impose. But we need to accept everyone,” Sarkar told The Telegraph.
The ‘peace rally’ that started from St Paul’s Cathedral attracted more than 1,000 people, said an official of the Bengal Christian Council, which organised the rally.
“The first thing that the Bible teaches us is to be in unity with everyone. That is in the logo of our school. We have classmates from other faiths in equal numbers and we are a family. There is a need to assert this message,” said Valentina D’souza, a Class IX student.
The rally that covered a distance of 1.9km terminated at the foot of the Gandhi statue on Mayo Road.
Reverend Canning, president of the Bengal Christian Council, in his address at the end of the rally iterated that Muslims and Christians have made as much contribution towards nation-building as any other community.
“I am not talking about the contributions of the Christians alone. Before the arrival of the Christians in this country, our Muslim brothers and sisters have made much bigger contributions, be it in the field of architecture, food or culture. This must be recognised,” said Bishop Canning.
He said this in the presence of the Union minister of state for minority affairs, John Barla, who is a BJP MP from Alipurduar in Bengal.
Bishop Canning said in his address that Barla attended the rally in his personal capacity as a fellow Christian from Bengal.