The Preamble to the Constitution of UNESCO declares that ‘since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed’. The world has already seen the worst bloodshed in the last century in the form of two world wars which perished a million lives.
On the importance of bringing peace, Dr. Karan Singh, Member of Parliament delivered a keynote at the Gandhi Mandela Peace Initiative at New Delhi on July 11. The event was organised by Believe Foundation in partnership with RBG Foundation and Sunday Guardian Foundation.
While remembering the two stalwarts of peace, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, Singh shared his harmonious meetings with them. He further said, “There are great similarities between the two leaders and when Mandela got out of jail, it appeared like our leader Nehru or Gandhi has come out of the prison”.
Karan addressing the audience also highlighted that it was Mahatma Gandhi who inspired legends like Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, etc., to raise voices against racism, xenophobia, and false prejudices. “Both Gandhi and Mandela had a tremendous impact throughout the world”, he further added.
Further, Karan urged the need for five different peace in order to create a harmonious world. According to Singh, they were, “World peace, regional peace or continental peace, internal peace within the country, social peace, and inner peace”.
Showing concern on the growing violence across the world, Karan came up with a solution of creating an organisation which will thrive for escalating peace within societies, countries, and in the world. “For this organisation people working for women rights, educational rights, social workers, NGOs have to come forward and work in a collaborative manner”.
Addressing the audience on using religion for violence across the world, Karan said, “Wherever extremism exists in any community, religion, or caste, it is them which suffers the most from it”. To substantiate his statement, he gave examples of African, Middle-eastern countries like Nigeria, Iran, Iraq, Syria, etc.
Karan concluded his talk by urging the audience to have some inner life and not just skim over their lives and promoting equality between the two genders.
