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High Court judge Hari Paranthaman addressing a gathering during an event in Madurai on Saturday | express
MADURAI: Taking exception to the recent statement of Supreme Court Judge AR Dave who said that if he had been the dictator of India, he would have introduced Gita and Mahabharata in Class I to learn how to live life, Madras HC Judge Hari Paranthaman said that the Constitution of India never allowed the word dictatorship and stressed only secularism.
The High Court Judge, while addressing a conference organised by the advocate wing of ‘Fascisa Ethirpu Makkal Kootamaipu’ here on Saturday, opined that “such words from a Supreme Court Judge that too in a public forum, is unwarranted.”
All holy books of other religions carries many good doctrines. Further, religious books should not be taught in schools as part of syllabus, since there were many moral and ethical books like Tirukkural, he added.
Slamming the move to install statues of Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Gandhi, by the Hindu Mahasabha, Hari Paranthaman said that the move was the peak of communal extremism and a threat to secularism guaranteed by the Constitution of India.
The HC Judge said that though he was a non-believer of religions, he has the right to intervene in the religious belief of others. The Right to Freedom of Religion guaranteed by the Constitution cannot be curtailed, he added. Insisting that people should realise the difference between the religious faith and communalism, the High Court said that in a recent worrying trend, communalism was being given a colour of patriotism, which was very dangerous. He said that he would fight against communalism in all religions including Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, etc., in what ever form it might be.
Pointing to the recent massacre of school children in Pakistan, the Judge said that if it could be called Muslim Taliban extremism, then the demolition of Babari Masjid and Godhra incident could be termed as Hindu Talibanism.