JOIN USUnion Minister for Minority Affairs Dr Najma Heptullah on Saturday blamed the lack of dialogue between stakeholders of various religions to be the root cause of hatred and violence in the world.
She was delivering the 12th Dr Stanley Samartha Memorial Lecture at the St Marks Cathedral organised in collaboration with the Bangalore initiative for Religious Dialogue (BIRD).
Heptulla recalled her own experiences to demonstrate the misinformation communicated between faiths.
“Different sections of our society are cashing in on our differences and disparities to reinforce divisions and promote violence. We must build inter-faith amity by developing trust, mutual respect and understanding,” she said. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan, “sabke saath, sabka vikas,” she said that the meaning of the line must be understood by going to the root of the problem which is the ‘lack of development’.