I am grateful to the organizers for inviting me to this people’s convention which has as its theme the restoration of the Constitution of India written by our revered Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and freeing India from the twin curses of communalism and terrorism.

Friends, India is today passing through perhaps the worst crisis after the partition of the sub-continent. The nation today stands divided deeply on casteist, communal, linguistic and regional lines. The youth, who are the hope and future of any nation, are getting frustrated due to lopsided, pro-rich, pro-west policies of the Government and their untapped energy, which should be utilized for building the nation of our dreams, is being exploited and misused by vested interests and anti-national forces to meet their narrow ends.

What we see today on the streets of Kashmir, Mumbai, Bihar, Orissa, Karnataka and other parts of the country are fallouts of the deep rooted maiaise that is eating into the very vitals of this great nation whose founding fathers envisioned a secular, socialist, democratic republic, where such tendencies have no place to exist.

We are no more Indians. We are Hindus, Christians, Muslims, Marathis, Biharis, Kannadigas, Tamils, Brahmins, Yadavs, OBCs, Dalits and what not. I thought we had ousted the outsiders from this country on August 15, 1947 when we threw off the British yoke and became independent but today we have started calling each other outsiders in our own country. Sometimes, I really dread to wonder whether the nation is heading towards a civil war.

Terrorism has become a major problem confronting the nation today. We have seen recently what happened in Assam. It was most unfortunate. All of us who believe in democracy are firmly opposed to anybody taking to arms to redress their grievances, genuine or perceived. As practitioners of parliamentary democracy, we cannot agree with those who indulge in violence whether it be the separatists in Kashmir, the militants in North East, the naxalites or the terrorists of the Jehadi or saffron variety.

But we cannot also treat them as mere law and order problems. Because our own boys who have been misled are involved in such incidents. We need to understand what went wrong. The recent investigations into the Malegaon blasts have proved beyond doubt that terrorists do not belong to any particular religion or community. Rather, they are the products of sustained hate campaigns engineered by fascist and communal forces.

The same forces who killed Mahatma Gandhi, who demolished Babri Mosque, who carried out massacre of minorities are behind the recent attacks on Christians across the country and the Malegaon blasts.

Our scriptures have taught us that one who suffers or sustains injustice is as guilty as one who perpetrates it. We all know the role of the Sangh Parivar including the BJP in communalizing our body polity and polarizing our society and at every forum we vehemently attack them and go home satisfied that we have proved our secular credentials and done our duty. I too can do the same here but I believe it is now time for some serious introspection.

What have we done to check these forces? I am sorry to state some harsh truths here but I must because doing otherwise would tantamount to hoodwinking the nation. We should not be like the pigeon who refuses to acknowledge the presence of the cat who is waiting to eat it. I know these are uncomfortable questions but let us face them.
Who was in power at the Centre when hundreds of riots took place in the country much before the Gujarat carnage and what action did those Governments take against the guilty?

Who created Bhindranwale?

Who hurt the Sikh psyche by ordering the Army to storm the Golden Temple?

Who allowed the Babri Mosque to be demolished?

Which Government remained a mute spectator to the anti-Sikh violence across the country in 1994 and failed to punish the guilty which included its own party MPs and legislators?

Which Government enacted the anti-conversion law in Himachal Pradesh?

Which Government failed to act on the Sri Krishna Commission Report?

Which Government failed to dismiss the Governments in Orissa and Karnataka in the wake of the most brutal attacks on the Christian community and institutions?

Who refused to ban fascist outfits like Bajrang Dal and Sri Ram Sena despite the Government’s own National Minorities Commission recommending the same?

Which party devised ‘soft Hindutva’ to counter hardline Hindutva?

Karnataka is a living example of how the aforesaid secular party tried to exterminate secular forces in the state and thus pave the way for the formation of the first communal government south of Vindhyas.

My party is accused of aligning with the BJP. Though some party legislators took this extreme step without taking my consent and I took disciplinary action against them, I have a few questions to ask.

Who tried to engineer defections in my party despite our being an ally of the Congress and our extending unconditional support for Government formation?

Who lured away our party leader Siddaramaiah?

Who forced JD-S legislators to go against the wish of the national leadership and strike an alliance with the BJP to save the party from total extermination?

Yet, when it came to transfer of power, I insisted on commitment to secularism as a pre-condition, to which they said no and I aborted the formation of the first saffron Government in south India even at the cost of being slammed as a betrayer.

Not only that the same party ensured division of secular votes but also took no initiative to check the formation of the saffron Government even when the required numbers could have been mustered without any manipulation or horse trading as all the six independent MLAs belonged to one or the other secular parties.

And what’s more, no lessons have been learnt so far and despite the BJP carrying out ‘Operation Lotus’ to break the two secular parties, the Congress party’s sole obsession seems to be to wipe out the third alternative and create a bipolar polity even at the cost of creating and sustaining the communal Frankestein.

The Constitution too has not been spared. The credibility of all constitutional bodies today stands eroded thanks to continued political intervention to serve vested political interests. CBI has been turned into a weapon to muzzle political opposition and tame critics and parliament functioning has been reduced to a mockery of democracy.

I can go on and on. The nation is passing through its worst ever crises – economic, social and political.

A terrorism and communalism free India is possible only if all right thinking people with avowed commitment to democracy, pluralism, secularism and federalism come together and unitedly combat the threat from communal, divisive and fascist forces.

I had suggested creation of a National Truth and Reconciliation Commission on the lines of the one created in post-apartheid South Africa.

I was moved by a speech brought to my notice, which was delivered by one Justice Albie Sachs, a Judge of Constitutional Court of South Africa. This man, I am told, lost his limbs in a bomb blast carried out by African National Congress activists. His family was targeted in ANC violence. As truth and reconciliation Commission, he was approached by a former ANC man who came forward to seek pardon, and it turned out he was the very man responsible for blowing the car which almost took Justice Sachs life, and left him handicapped and disfigured for life.

Justice Sachs not only listened to him patiently and made him comfortable, slowly all the anger and misplaced pride in the act of violence of ANC man melted in the warm glow of compassion and understanding shown by Justice Sachs. After a few months, Justice Sachs heard at a public place somebody call him by his first name Albie and he saw the ANC man who came forward and introduced his wife to him as an old acquaintance would do--free of guilt and burden on his soul.

It is our duty today that our disgruntled, disillusined, angry and frustrated youth should be given an outlet, a glow of human warmth and understanding to make thier anger and frustration melt away rather than make them carry the burden on their souls as anti social, terrorists and criminals. We must remember they are our children first. Today's atmosphere of instant reactionism can only spread hatred and turn our children against each other and destroy our home, our country.

Today is the time to create, build and sustain institutions that bring our children together and create inclusive feeling in them than drive them further apart.

In the quest of creating a bipolar polity let not the so called big two parties be allowed to have a free run by polarizing societies and creating conditions where potent regional forces end up spending their energies at countering each other rather than strengthen the federal polity that ensuresmore equitable shring of resources, including jobs, which thnaks to one unidirectional economic reforms that have set the rich on a fast track of greater and greater prosperity at the expense of millions who wait in que to get a ticket for a train carrying goods of basic necessities of life.

Today jobs have become a precious depleting resouce like water, and tensions and problems created by this is to be resolved in the same manner as we have been grapling on issue of sharing river waters. Thanks to economic reforms that today jobs have become such a scarce commodity.

That is why today I make two demands, one a Truth and reconciliation commission be created that should look into all incidents of communal violence starting with the demolition of the Babri mosque as the cut-off point. Such a gesture would go a long way in providing the much-needed healing touch to the hurt psyche of our minorities and pave the way for bridging the growing chasm between different communities.
I have already written two letters both to the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the UPA Chairperson in this regard and I hope they will take the necessary step at the earliest.

Secondly, our economy should have its own direction and sense of priorities rather than towing blindly the prescriptions of America and the West. It may well be that we learn in a hard way in near future that Nuclear deal was after all only to aid a slowing America rather than create job opportunities for our youth.

Backwardness and poverty are among the factors which play a key role in breeding violent tendencies in our youth. Reservation is one such affirmative action that has played a crucial role in bringing into the mainstream our Dalit and Tribal brethren despite all shortcomings and lacunae in its implementation.

It was my Government in Karnataka which evolved a reservation model which provided four per cent reservation to Muslims in education and jobs and the model is being implemented to this date irrespective of the party in power.

I firmly believe that the Karnataka Model offers viable and practical solution to many problems confronted by the Minorities as highlighted in the Sachar Committee report. The implementation of the Model would go a long way in checking the discontentment among our youth, which is often exploited by the anti-national forces and proves detrimental to national interests.

I must say that the common man in India today remains secular and peace loving. We have seen welcome initiatives from the civil society such as the Deoband Fatwa against terrorism. It is not the political parties alone but the man on the streets also who will have to break his silence and raise his voice against the dark forces of terrorism and communalism.

Vox Populi, Vox Dei. The voice of the people is the voice of God. The People’s Convention is one such great initiative. I congratulate the Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims and the organizers of this convention for this bold idea. Let this initiative spread its wings across the country in every nook and corner and inspire others to come out and raise their voice. Your message should be that secular votes should not get divided to enable revisionist forces to come to power and my message is that my party was, is and will always be with you in this endeavour.

Jai Hind.