Muslims need modern education: Ansari

He was addressing the valedictory of the golden jubilee celebrations of Darul Uloom Sabeelur Rashad, a premier Arabic College in Bangalore. He said that Bangalore is known all over the world for its progress in the field of knowledge.

“The world needs this knowledge, Muslims also need it. The world is changing rapidly. If we want to live in this world and wish to be successful, the pace of our change should be in tune with the rest of the world,” the Vice-President said.

Ansari also pointed out that the inclusive nature of India’s social circle has meant that we have been able to successfully manage many different religions.

“Recently, German Chancellor Angela Merkel asked me how we manage so many different religions. She said that there must be a lot of difficulty,” Ansari said.

“I replied that the Indian social circle includes everyone -- irrespective of their religion, caste, language. We accept everyone as Indian,” he added. The German Chancellor said that they needed to learn this lesson from Indians, Ansari said.

Indian society was like a vehicle with each wheel representing a community. “As long as the four wheels are moving together, we will be successful,” he said.

Earlier, Governor H R Bhardwaj said India has a big heart, and all religions are discharging their duties well. On the question of civil code reform, he said marriage, maintenance, divorce and succession laws varied from religion to religion, and it cannot be imposed without it being acceptable to the community concerned.