Indian secularism is cultural secularism : Advani

Hubli, Jan 15 (UNI) Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani today came down heavily on those speaking about 'secularism' and said the secularism accepted by the country was 'sampradaya nirpeksha' (cultural secularism) and not 'dharm nirpeksha' (religious secularism).

Speaking after hoisting a flag to mark the beginning of the 11-day first mahamastakabhisheka of the 61-ft monolith statue of Bhagawan Parshwanath and eight other teerthankaras at 'Navagraha teerth' on the outskirts of the Pune-Bangalore national highway, he said the sampradaya (culture) and teerthakshetras (pilgrimage centres) had bound the people of this county with a silken bind.

''North Indians always thought of visiting Madurai Meenakshi, Rameshwaram, Kanyakumari and Shravanabelagola of Karnataka, while South Indians made it a point to visit Kashi, Haridwar, Amritsar and Ajmer,'' he said.

Mr Advani said he had read the speech of late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the Madurai session of the Congress prior to 1947, wherein he had stated that India was one because of its pilgrimage centres.

He asked the foreign dignitaries visiting India to also visit 'Akshardham', built recently on the banks of river Yamuna.

Maintaining that his party BJP always believed in 'Rashtravaad (nationalsim), the former Deputy Prime Minister said education and health should get priority. There was need to provide nutritious food to children in schools and it should also be 'Satvik' and not 'Tamasik'.

There was no need for a State Government to accept every decision imposed on it by the Centre, he said, without referring to the Centre's direction to provide eggs in noon meals of school children.

''Instead, the States can povide milk to students,'' he added.

UNI