An 84-year-old Hindu man has been hosting an interfaith iftar for more than 30 years.
Om Prakash Shah is a chartered accountant by profession and a peace activist by passion. A
staunch Gandhian, Shah is the founder of the Centre for Peace
& Progress.
This year, the iftar was held last Sunday (March 8). The venue: Shah’s first-floor apartment on Nazar Ali Lane, a bylane off Ballygunge Circular Road and a stone’s throw from Tivoli Court.
Like every year, people from various walks of life gathered at the apartment, shared a meal and discussed current affairs.
“Secularism in this country must be preserved in practice. All religious and linguistic communities must follow it in letter and spirit. If the idea of India is to remain, we must do it,” Shah said.
Concerns around the contentious SIR came to the fore more than once.
Md Nadimul Haque, a Trinamool Rajya Sabha member, said the country’s current rulers were not bothered about the problems of the poor. “The SIR exercise is proof of their apathy,” he said.
Fuad Halim, a doctor and CPM leader, said the SIR had become an agenda in Bengal. “People are seriously impacted. There is a degree of cynicism regarding the position of political parties. Both the majority and minority communities are represented in the over 60 lakh names ‘under adjudication’. People are standing together in different ways and forms. Not only in Calcutta but in the districts as well. The anxiety is evident,” he said.
Sardar Tarsem Singh Sohan Pal, social activist; Joeeta Basu, teacher; Touseef Ahmed Khan, advocate and political activist; and Biswajit Matilal, communications consultant, were among the guests who broke bread together.
A simple, tasty spread — puri, sabzi, halwa, chhole, kheer and fruits — awaited the guests.