By Michael Gonsalves
Pune: Father Varghese Alengaden, a Catholic priest from Indore, is “possessed by peace.”
His latest peace building mission is to persuade the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Modi government to create a Union ministry for peace. Having known him for many years, I am least surprised by the padre’s latest venture. If realized, ministry for peace would go a long way in creating apostles of peace for the new millennium.
The idea was born in the land of sun, sea and beaches: The golden Goa. Alengaden’s National Peace Movement, Rotary International Districts 3040 and 3170, Peace Channel Nagaland and others organized a three-day 3rd National Peace Convention in Panjim, Goa, January end, with over 300 delegates from 18 states discussing and debating various dimensions of peace.
The Goa Peace Declaration 2017 includes among its many resolutions the suggestion for a peace ministry and allocate fund for peace building programs as well as initiate activities to achieve the same. The other suggestions are: peace should be made a subject in schools and colleges as well as bureaucrats and the police should be trained how to deal with people non-violently.
The national convention also resolved to disseminate the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi, particularly non-violence, by organizing essay writing and speech competitions in educational institutions and motivating students, teachers and others to read Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography My Experiment with Truth.
But significantly, the participants at the Goa convention will read the autobiography within a year. “It is a humble effort to build a civilization of love and counter the negative forces of violence, hatred and fundamentalism,” Alengaden says.
There is too much of bloodshed in the name of caste, creed, color and other petty identities. The street man and youth are brainwashed and misled. Peace is possible when each one realizes it within and maximize through small and big actions.
The National Peace Convention is a call to all people of good will to preserve and promote peace. Varghese believes in lighting a candle than cursing the deep darkness.
(This appeared first in the Financial Chronicle on February 6, 2017)