Over 250 atheists from across the country gathered here on Sunday, and called for solidarity in the face of rising religious intolerance.
The gathering also lamented the fact that the police had failed to make headway in the case related to the murder of noted anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar, who was shot dead by unknown assailants in Pune in August 2013.
“The purpose of coming together here is to share thoughts within the community, and to send out a message to society that there is nothing immoral in being an atheist,” said Sanjay Savarkar, an organiser of the event, held at the University of Mumbai’s suburban Kalina campus. It was important for the freethinkers to come together when religious intolerance was on the rise, he said.
The event was organised to mark the death anniversary of Bhagat Singh, whose essay ‘Why I am an Atheist’ is well known. Information technology professional and former chief executive of L&T Infotech, Achyut Godbole, writer J.A. Pawar and president of the Federation of Rationalists’ Association of India, Narendra Nayak, among others, spoke at the event.
