On the eve of India’s monsoon session of parliament, a group of 40 Indian senior spiritual leaders and intellectuals from diverse faiths called upon their countrymen to seek strength from the nation’s deep spiritual reservoirs to end the increasing environment of hate, violence and disregard for the rule of law in which many innocents of religious and marginalized communities have been lynched in recent weeks.
The leaders who gathered on Sunday in New Delhi, “called upon the government to end impunity which was at the root of the atmosphere of fear that stalks the land today,” said a press release by Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, the Secretary General of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body of the Catholic Church in the country. “It was felt that these developments threatened not just secularism, but the Constitution and the democratic fabric of the country,” wrote the bishop who convoked the meeting on the eve of the July 17 to August 11 parliament monsoon session.
The Indian parliament is scheduled to hold 19 sessions that will see the election of India’s new president and vice-president. Bills involving a range of issues such as education, security, finance, labour, shipping and statistics are likely to be introduced and discussed
