Kolkata: The current situation of the country needed much more than tolerance, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said on Saturday, stressing the need for Hindus and Muslims working together when attempts were being made for a one-nation-one-religion country. He was speaking at Alipore Museum at the launch of ‘Chair for the Reader’, an initiative by Know Your Neighbour, which aims at bridging gaps between communities through storytelling and discussions. Sen’s daughter, actress-author Nandana Sen, mayor Firhad Hakim and Alipore Museum director Jayanta Sengupta attended the event.
Sen pointed out that those wanting to make India a “Hindu Rashtra” did not consider “the Taj Mahal as a beautiful and important building” and did not find any “link and connection with Muslims”. But Shah Jahan’s eldest son, Dara Sikoh, translated 50 Upanishads from Sanskrit to Persian, enabling the world to know about Hindu scriptures, culture and tradition as it was from his translation that the Upanishad was translated into other foreign languages, like German. “What is being ignored is our rich history of Hindus and Muslims working together.
Tolerance is being given much value...
but the most important thing that needs to be done is that Hindus and Muslims should work together — yukta sadhana — in fields of politics , healthcare, education,” said the Bharat Ratna awardee, who in one of his earlier visits had called the Taj Mahal the finest example of “collaborative work between Hindus and Muslims”. Sen referred to his maternal grandfather, Kshitimohan Sen, a major proponent of ‘yukta sadhana’ and author of ‘Bharate Hindu Musalmaner Yukta Sadhana’ to highlight the importance of Hindu-Muslim unity, which was not about tolerating each other (much more is needed than that) but rather, about Hindus and Muslims working together, which they had done historically, to create rich music, literature and architecture. Sen also spoke about Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar to emphasize the tradition of unity and collaboration.
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