The Freethought Party of India (FPI) and the AMOFOI jointly celebrated the 185th Birthday of Charles Bradlaugh.
While presiding over the function, held on Wednesday here, FPI president Dr Bijayananda Kar deeply regretted that British statesman Bradlaugh who was all for India’s freedom and given a standing ovation in Bombay (Mumbai) in 1889 by the Indian National Congress where he was hailed as the “Mahatma Bradlaugh” is now being totally forgotten by the Congress party and intellectuals of India.
FPI general secretary B Ramchandra CST Voltaire pointed out that it was on August 21, 1888 that two stalwarts of Indian National Congress, its first president Womesh Chunder
Bonnerjee (1844-1906) and its second president Dadabhai Naoroji (1825-1917) met Bradlaugh, MP, at his Northampton constituency, UK and requested him to represent India in the British House of Commons.
The fearless clarity of vision led Bradlaugh to state categorically that ‘free thought and atheism are two sides of the same coin.’
This was Bradlaugh’s greatest contribution to mankind, stated Voltaire.