Bharat Summit Shows New Hope in the Wake of Hatred and Violence
Jahaan e taaza ki afkaar e taaza se hai namood
Ke sung o khisht se hote nahin jahaan paida
(A new world is born with new ideas
Stones and bricks do not create new worlds)
These lines kept echoing in my ears as I watched the first Bharat Summit, the world's biggest gathering of progressives, in Hyderabad, the jewel capital of Telangana, unfold over two days on April 25-26. From around the world, more than 400 delegates, over 100 progressive parties, ministers, senators, parliamentarians, civil society leaders – young and old, men and women – attended this summit.
Delivering global justice was the theme of the event. Meanwhile, it also marked 140 years of the Indian National Congress and 70 years of the Bandung Conference.
Just three days before the event, the Kashmir killings shook the world. As a Kashmir-born myself, I mourn with those who lost their beloved family members. I identify with Kashmiris who came to the rescue of the injured and also, once again, who lost their livelihoods. We Kashmiris from all over India are lamenting the loss of precious lives.
Also read: At Bharat Summit, Global Leaders Call For 'Unity of Progressives' Against Far-Right Forces
Across the globe, voices rose in condemnation; the country was convulsed while most social media handles spewed hatred and venom.
At the plenary session of Bharat Summit, held after two days of a packed programme, the Hyderabad Declaration was presented by Salman Khurshid and Anne Linde before a packed hall. Condemning terrorism, the declaration spoke of reshaping the economic paradigm, environmental justice, gender equality, social inclusion and much more. On the stage sat peace-loving leaders from the world over.
Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also spoke at the plenary session.
Gandhi spoke of a new lens for Congress which was created in these two days. It was fashioned by leaders who believed in justice and peace. He referred to his Bharat Jodo Yatra of 4,000 kms across the country in which thousands walked with him, and where, he said, he learnt how to listen with empathy. Thereby, to use his favourite phrase, he realised that in this vortex of hatred there needs to be a beacon of love: ' Nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukaan (In the marketplace of hatred, a shop of love)'.
What am I taking home from these two days – I, as someone who was nurtured in the India of the 50s, 60s and 70s, where Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Azad and many others were our leaders and mentors?
Their stature is unmatched by present global leadership. I have vivid memories of them at my school functions. For our present youth, all these rahbars (leaders), whose images were beautifully displayed all around the walls of the convention centre, are just history. They look, linger and move on. But it were these people who have inspired this Bharat Summit.
To get the world together on one stage, to get more than 100 nations on one platform around the theme of 'delivering global justice and universal peace' was only possible because the organisers, Samruddha Bharat Foundation, let by Pushpraj Deshpande and Telangana government, believed in the principles of these leaders who sacrificed their lives for India to attain freedom from colonial rule.
Some of them were gunned down, some were sent to the gallows, and some struggled until the last breath. Inspired by their example, today, the world has signed the Bharat Summit Declaration. This means that these 100 plus nations have given a clarion call.
Once again, Iqbal comes to mind when he says that these people with vision will create new habitations. These women and men, participants of Bharat Summit, are looking towards new horizons. When I saw them on the stage, a new dawn was unfolding. There was new hope in the wake of the hatred, violence and bloodbath we have just encountered. The innocent lives who fell to the bullets of terror have created the halo for a new hope. My birthplace Kashmir, convulsed and shattered, has sent a lehr of hope.
Telangana, the land of Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb , lived up to its history.
As I leave this venue, I know that in the darkest of times, the dawn breaks. Faiz Ahmed Faiz has expressed what sums up the prayer of each person who participated in the Bharat Summit:
Dil na umeed to nahin naakaam hee to hai
Lambi hai gham ki shaam magar shaam hee to hai.
(The heart has hope though it still hasn't won
The eve of sorrow is long but it's only the evening.)
Syeda Hameed is a writer and the founder chair of the Muslim Women's Forum.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
an hour ago
- The Hindu
Muslim hawker assaulted in Meerut; attempt to create fear, says opposition
After a Muslim cloth peddler was brutally assaulted at Fatehpur Narayan village, under Kithor police station limits, in Meerut district, opposition parties alleged on Sunday that the incident was a targeted attack designed to create fear. While villagers and police claimed Arif was mistaken for a thief, the victim's wife alleged that they were being forced to modify the complaint by the police. 'We have submitted a petition; the case is yet to be registered. My husband, who was selling clothes, was beaten, and now we are being pressured to change the petition by the Sub-Inspector,' said Tausima, the victim's wife, in a viral video. The Hindu reached out to the Meerut police, including the Circle Officer, but failed to get any response. Mob attack The incident happened on July 26. The victim, along with one companion, was selling clothes in the village when 10-15 people gathered and began calling him a thief, demanded his Aadhar card, and proceeded to beat him up. He was taken to Meerut Medical College for treatment. 'This incident shows that there is a complete breakdown of law and order in the state. No one has the right to take the law into their hands; some people emboldened by the dispensation are attempting to create a Jangal Raj kind of situation in U.P.; it is a lynching attempt that aims to create fear,' said Imran Masood, Lok Sabha MP and a senior Congress leader. Lok Sabha MP from Ghazipur, Afzal Ansari, said, 'I condemn this incident, it is clear that the accused have no fear of the administration and rule of law. They know no proper action will be taken, and this encourages them to attack poor Muslims.'
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Abhishek to head to Delhi as TMC intensifies SIR stir
Kolkata: national general secretary is expected to reach Delhi this week as the party intensifies its stir in Parliament, demanding an assurance from the Centre "on the floor of the House" that the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar will be discussed. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Trinamool Congress has been consistently opposing SIR, questioning Election Commission's powers to conduct citizenship checks and disenfranchise voters. The party has said SIR requirements mirror Section 3 of the Citizenship Act, 1955, which makes the exercise "NRC in disguise." Over the last week, the party has been hamstrung by the absence of its floor leaders in Lok Sabha. Trinamool's leader in Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay and senior MP Saugata Roy are not in Delhi due to health reasons. The party's chief whip in Lok Sabha, Kalyan Banerjee, is representing Bengal govt in cases and shuttling between Supreme Court and Calcutta High Court. On Friday, the party's deputy Lok Sabha leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar attended the all-party meeting convened by Speaker Om Birla. Banerjee is likely to remain in Delhi and work on party strategy. The Diamond Harbour MP, who was part of Centre's outreach abroad after Pahalgam attack, is also likely to be a keynote speaker if Operation Sindoor discussions take place in Parliament. A senior MP said: "Trinamool is not opposed to discussions on Operation Sindoor. In fact, we want some answers. But this cannot be at the expense of SIR. Here we are talking of mass disenfranchisement of people who had voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha, based on arbitrary reasoning. We want a clear assurance from the Centre on the floor of the house that SIR will be discussed threadbare in Parliament."
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Only Dhankhar, PM Modi know real reason behind VP's exit: Mallikarjun Kharge
NEW DELHI: Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday said he has no information on the actual reason for Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation as Vice President, holding that it was for Dhankhar to tell what really happened, as the matter was between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi . "I don't know all those details. He (Dhankhar) was always on the govt's side. He should say what happened," Kharge was reported as saying by news agency PTI, in response to a question on whether Dhankhar was forced to resign as he spoke in favour of farmers. Kharge was at Vijayapura in Karnataka. "When we raised several issues concerning farmers, the poor, international issues or foreign policy, he never used to give us an opportunity (in Rajya Sabha as its Chairman)," the Congress president said. "When we tried to raise issues by giving notices on issues regarding the poor, atrocities against women, Dalits and the downtrodden, and incidents like Hindu-Muslim clashes, he did not give us an opportunity. It (the reason for Dhankhar's resignation as Vice President) is between him and Modi. We don't have any information on that," Kharge clarified. Notwithstanding Kharge's stance, senior leaders from his party have, since Dhankhar's abrupt departure as VP, have been asserting that there is far more to the episode than meets the eye.
