The Thma U Rangli-Juki (TUR) has objected to the statement made by education minister Rakkam A Sangma that Meghalaya’s first government established state university Capt. Williamson Sangma University shall be consecrated by an exclusive massive Christian prayer service and gathering because Meghalaya is a Christian state.
“First, Meghalaya may be a state where majority of its population practises various forms of Christianities but that in itself does not make it a Christian state,” TUR said in a statement today.
Pointing out that the State and its institutions in India are secular bodies as per the Constitution that keep equidistance from various religious groups TUR said the minister’s statement goes against the Constitutional values of secularism enshrined in the Indian constitution.
While the publicly funded state university should be free from religious influence of any kind to be able to prosper and provide free, fair and quality education for all, the organisation said Sangma’s ignorant statement as the education minister blatantly creates discriminatory conditions for Meghalaya’s other religions.
“It is true that at the union level, the government led by Mr. Narendra Modi of the BJP has been actively seeking to blur the distinction between Hindu faith and state institutions. We remember the entry of Hindu religious leaders and rituals carried out by them for the inauguration of the new Parliament building. But political morality means that one should not encourage competing religious fundamentalism as Mr. Sangma seems to be doing. TUR wants to remind Mr. Rakkam Sangma that he has taken an oath to protect the Indian Constitution and its values and his toxic fundamentalist statement goes against his constitutional oath,” TUR said.
Demanding that the planned service should be immediately stopped and the minister to retract his discriminatory statement TUR also urged people’s groups and political parties to condemn the minister’s fundamentalist statement and work together to protect and defend India’s constitutional values.
