Kerala - Kannur   

Call to usher in peace

Peace initiative: National Youth Project founder-director S.N. Subba Rao addressing a gathering as part of a national integration camp at Mambaram in Kannur on Sunday.

KANNUR: The Town Hall here became a micro-India as 400 youths from different States gathered as part of the ongoing national integration camp at Mambaram here under the auspices of the National Youth Project (NYP).

Groups from different States introduced themselves using slogans in their respective languages.

The eight-day camp which began at the Indira Gandhi Public School at Mambaram on May 8 is part of the NYP’s initiatives to spread the message of peace in the violence-hit areas near Thalassery. Participants will visit Thalassery, Pinarayi, Dharmadam, Chokli and Panur.

NYP founder-director and veteran Gandhian S.N. Subba Rao, who leads the camp, started his speech with a song extolling the country’s diversity and unity. He said peace had to be brought through changes in the minds of the people. “We can spread love through our campaign,” he said.

Recalling his involvement in the drive in the Chambal valley in 1972-1976 to exhort the dacoits to surrender, he said the youth in the country deserved a peaceful India. “Think of tomorrow’s India free of violence and injustice,” he said.

Inaugurating the function, K. Sudhakaran, MLA, said the camp could not have been conducted in the district at a more appropriate time as some parts of the district had witnessed political clashes recently.

Trained killers had been engaged in the violence. Attributing political and ideological rivalry as the root cause of the clashes, Mr. Sudhakaran said political clashes were curtailing democratic values.

Stressing the importance of national integration, Mr. Sudhakaran said it was essential to accept plurality of cultures.

There are divisive forces that do not go with the broader concept of national integration, he added. Municipal chairman B.P. Farooq presided over the function. Gandhi Smaraka Nidhi chairman P. Gopinathan Nair also addressed the gathering. NYP national co-ordinator Karayil Sukumaran, Fr. Devassya Eerathara, Fr. Thomas Thythottam and P.K. Premarajan were among those present. Organisers of the camp said peace message rally, public meetings, all-religion prayers and art and cultural programmes from different States were being organised as part of the camp.

Dr. Rao later visited the venue of the indefinite relay fast organised by the Kerala Prohibition Council at the Stadium Corner here as a mark of solidarity with the campaign against alcohol.

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