‘Counter terrorism with religious integration’

Terrorism should be countered ideologically by propping up the idea of religious integration against religious terrorism, Rahul Eeswar, Hindu Maha Mandalam State president, has said.

Mr. Eeswar was inaugurating the debate on ‘New faces of terrorism’, organised by the Bharatiya Vichara Kendram (BVK) at the Town Hall here on Saturday.

He said it was high time the world followed the philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda to counter the extremist elements of the modern times.

According to him, those who used terrorism to thrust their ideology upon others used weapons also to achieve the end. The social media, too, was being used as medium for propagating their extremist ideology.

Though there were extremists attached to all religions, society should exclude those who wield weapons in the name of terrorism, he said.

Introducing the theme of the debate, C.I. Isaac, BVK vice-president, said the reluctance to accept democracy was the basis of religious terrorism.

Terrorism had been propping up in different forms across the globe since the last quarter of the 20th century. Christianity and Judaism had accepted changes in tune with the times. Whereas the reluctance of the Islam to accept the changes had paved the way for growth of extremism and terrorism in the modern world, Mr Issac said.

Presiding over the meeting, K. Unnikrishnan, Associate Professor in English at Pandalam NSS College, spoke about another major issue facing the society, which according to him was disregard to childhood.

Thomas T. George, Associate Professor at Thiruvalla Mar Thoma College was the moderator. Murali Kovoor, BVK district president; V.Rajeev, and K.S. Dileepan, BVK office-bearers, also spoke.