The vision of religion of first Prime Minister Pt Jawaharlal Nehru was complementary to inclusive nationalism in India. “It gives concrete expression to that common India concept of national consciousness of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Maulana Azad etc, which molded diverse India into a unified modern nation as the world’s largest democracy. These were the opinions of former professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and ex-member of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Prof Purushottam Agrawal while speaking on the topic of ‘Nehru’s vision of religion’ on the occasion of Pandit Kamlapati Tripathi’s 118th birth anniversary at Aurangabad House here on Sunday. Prof Agrawal was honoured with ‘Pt Kamlapati Tripathi National Honour’ which carries Rs 1 lakh prize money.
Prof Agrawal said that Nehru was a believer and founder of the citizens’ natural right to religious freedom of faith, belief and worship. “In this way Pt Nehru was neither anti-religion nor indifferent to religion as he also used to recite Manas path while sitting with Pt Ram Naresh Tripathi. Nehru believed that India is not only a country of wide diversity of religion, language, culture and folk customs but it is also a country of deep spiritual traditions of diversity among different religions,” he said, adding that underlying consciousness of the spiritual essence and morality of various religions unites all the communities and makes the true nation an embodiment. “Bapu taught us the path of his practice. Undoubtedly, Congress has been the representative institution of inclusive nationalism with these basic elements of building modern India. That's why every Congressman must compulsorily read Nehru’s ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’ or ‘Hindustan Ki Kahani’, Prof Agrawal said.
Remembering Pt Kamlapati Tripathi, he said that Pandit ji was a hero, writer and journalist in the leading line of learned politicians in India. “Pandit ji was a symbol of deep Sanatani religiosity, non-objectionable secularism and conceptual coordinator of socialism with democracy,” he added.
Speaking as the special guest, state Congress president Ajay Rai said that Pt Kamlapati is our inspiration in terms of principle, struggle and example of politics of equality and coordination in the society. He said that by walking on the path of mass politics shown by Pt Kamlapati, the Congress will restore its legacy of pride.
Welcoming the guests, president of Kamlapati Tripathi Foundation Rajeshpati Tripathi said that by following the principled Congress culture which Pt Kamlapati Tripathi lived, the Congress can be successful. The function was presided over by senior party leader Vijay Shankar Pandey. The function was also addressed by former MP Dr Rajesh Mishra, Satish Choubey and Onkar Singh.
In the beginning, Prof Satish Kumar Rai highlighted the personality of Pt Kamlapati. The function was attended by Dineshpati Tripathi, Anjali Tripathi, Ambarishpati Tripathi, Sunayana Pateria, Laliteshpati Tripathi, Anil Srivastava, Rajeshwar Patel, Raghvendra Choubey, Ajit Singh, Dr Arif, Shailendra Singh and Nripendra Narayan Singh. The vote of thanks was proposed by Baijnath Singh.