Page 12 - Demo

12 JANUARY’19-JUNE’19
THE REVIEW
PUNE AGM 2018
a similar upbringing, but who think differently. We need Atal Bihari Vajpayee leaders, because Vajpayee said, ‘If India is not secular, then India is not India.’
Our Institutions
The next thing is our institutions, whether it be the Church or our schools. Friends, if you are having a problem, reach out to the MLAs, reach out to the MPs. I don’t think we can do much,
but if the Association can do something, like in the case of the Allahabad property, you bet we
are going to do a whatever we can. Reach out. Even the people who are propagating this way of life actually don’t know their own religion well enough. And thankfully, the majority of Hindus are tolerant, secular, and want peace in India. Because if they hadn’t been like that, India would not be India. Thousands of years have gone, and because the Hindu is tolerant, and because the tolerant Hindu is in a huge majority, India is secular. Just like in Pakistan! I’ve been to Pakistan seven times. Friends, it is a great country. It’s my second favourite country, actually, except for the UK, (which has London theatre!) it’s the country
I am most comfortable in! I love just walking around. They’ll talk to you in Urdu, which you won’t completely understand. If they find out you’re Indian, you’ve had it! They will tell you they can’t take money! The taxi driver didn’t
take money from me. We were buying CDs, and I said something about India. He said, ‘Aap India
se ho? Achha thik hai, aap yeh rakh lijiye. Aap
toh mehman ho hamaare!’ (Are you from India? Okay then, you keep this. You’re our guest!) The majority of Pakistan feels that way. But there is a small, strong minority—most of them in general’s outfits—who don’t want peace with India. The mullahs, God bless them, they don’t want peace. They dominate. Friends, we can’t have that. We can’t have India becoming a Pakistan— a religious country dominated by one religion, one way
of life. India is for all - people of all faiths, all cultures, all communities.
Unfortunately for Pakistan, the majority is being gobbled up by the minority. We won’t let that happen in India ever, because India will forever remain a secular state, the Constitution
will protect India. I appeal to all our MLAs and representatives, and I’ve had many chats with them: they too are extremely concerned and
they have voiced, even publicly, their opinions. The most important role of an MP or MLA is to represent you in Parliament, to represent you
in the assembly, speak when you have to speak. And if you’re wondering why they’re not here:
I invited Professor Richard Hay and he has not been well. But he acknowledged me, we chatted and according to me, he is trying to reach out. That’s my assessment of him; I know we can point out other more things, including Cynthia Bosser being helped out. I also wrote to Mr George Baker inviting him. Our representatives must strongly put forward to the government, to Parliament, that for many of us our minds are NOT without fear.
The Association
I will move on to the last sections now, that is to
do with the Association and the community. This is a historic AGM not only for the numbers but also for what we lovingly call the Green Book— fundamentally very strong in many ways, but very sketchy in today’s world in many ways. There are grey areas. There are things that are outdated. There are 51 resolutions we will be moving. There are some obvious ones, there are a few which aren’t, and we are open to listening to what you have to say. One of them is this great issue of
our girls ‘marrying out’ of the community. ‘Out
of the community’ is not the right way to say it; ‘intermarriage’ would probably be better. Surely let her marry who she wants! Because otherwise, you’re going down the other path of Daddy and Mummy choosing. It’s another story if the girl herself, or the boy, asks his or her parents to choose. I get messages about marriages. It’s a dangerous thing to do, never fix a marriage. They have to marry who they want to marry. We’ve
got three daughters; do you want to know who I want them to marry? Anglo-Indians! Do you want to know who I want them to marry? Christians! But above that, do you know who I want them to marry? Who they want to marry! I want them to marry good boys, I want them to marry people who will treat them with respect. I want them to marry people who will make them feel special