How Rotary can help bring together different communities

Last week, Rtn Fakhruddin Khorakiwala addressed us after he was given the Citizen of Mumbai Award by our Club. Introducing him, PP Vithal Palekar said, “We couldn’t have made a better choice than Rtn Fakhruddin Khorakiwala. He has done Rotary proud by standing by the four ideals of Rotary.

“The first ideal is to use acquaintance as a means to service to society. Fakhruddinbhai has used his large number of acquaintances for the benefit of this city, and to some extent the whole country.

“The second ideal is maintaining high ethical standards. In the 30-odd years that I have known him, he upheld high ethical standards at Akbarallys, even when it was a medium sized organization in its early days. He was instrumental in nurturing — if not founding — an organization called the Council for Fair Business Practices, for which I too have worked for many years.

“The third is service to the community. Our community has immensely benefitted from the services of Fakhruddinbhai in his capacity as Sheriff of Mumbai.

“The fourth is to promote international goodwill among people. Fakhruddinbhai excelled in this respect. If anyone wants a helping hand, he is always ready and eager to extend it.

“One of our seniormost Rotarians — Natubhai Brahmbhat — overflowed with joy when he learnt of our Club’s decision to honour Fakhruddinbhai with its prestigious award, because Natubhai personally witnessed his deep passion for service while accompanying him to remote villages in North Gujarat for giving succour to riot-hit people. During the riots that followed the 1992 serial bomb blasts in Mumbai, we all witnessed the great energy with which Fakhruddinbhai provided his healing touch and organized a 100-km long human chain of goodwill and peace,” noted PP Vithal Palekar, before reading out the citation. President Harry then presented a silver salver and citation.

Responding, Fakhruddin said, “I wish Happy Gudi Padwa to all my Maharashtrian friends, and a joyous Jamshedi Navroze to my Parsi friends. Thank you Harry for choosing this day between Gudi Padwa and Navroze to do me this honour. Honorary Rotarians and distinguished citizens have received this award before me, but I am the only other sitting Rotarian after JRD Tata to have the privilege of receiving it. Thank you for this rare honour.

“India won political freedom in 1947, thanks to the leadership provided by Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Sarojini Naidu, Lal Lajpatrai, and Khan Abdul Ghafar Khan and others. But this hard-won political freedom did not really touch the lives of the aam aadmi; because what the common man needed most was economic and social freedom, which is yet to be won. The lot of the Dalits, the OBCs, tribals and minorities is the same as before Independence.

“Rotary is very well placed — both nationally and internationally — to play the historic role of helping the common man get social and economic freedom, without which political freedom is of little use. Because political freedom has only replaced rajas, maharajas and nawabs with the so-called elected rulers, and some of whom were ‘hereditary’ political leaders.

Casteism continues

“Let me explain what I mean by social freedom. Our society — Hindu and non-Hindu — is ridden with castes and sub-castes. There are Majhabis, Akalis and other castes among Sikhs, although the Sikh religion does not permit caste system. These don’t intermingle or intermarry. Most Christians and Muslims are converts from Hinduism and have been carrying on the Hindu legacy of casteism for centuries. Low-caste Hindus who became Christians continued to be low-caste Christians, looked down upon by high-caste Christians. Lowcaste converts into Islam became Ansaris and Momins, who had a low social status, compared to uppercaste Sayyads and Sheikhs.

“Some drastic steps are needed to resolve this problem. I am proud that I am a Muslim, and I am even more proud of being an Indian Muslim. As a Muslim, I observe fast during Ramzan, say my prayers, pay my zakaat, I have done hajj pilgrimage twice, and I am following the fundamentals of my religion.

“If a Christian attends the midnight mass and observes abstinence during Easter, he is following the fundamentals of Christianity. If good Hindus go to temples for puja and abstain nonvegetarian foods during shradh, they are following the fundamentals of Hinduism. So we, devout people of different religions, are all fundamentalists. By contrast, fanatics are those who love their own religion, and hate the religions of others.

“Fundamentalism is not bad word, contrary to what the West has led us to believe. What is bad is fanaticism.

Integrating across religions

“Some days ago, I was surprised to learn that the Gayatri mantra that Hindus chant in the morning has the same message as the Al-Hamd sura, which is the first sura of the Koran. Instead of being led by dissimilar religious rules, we should find areas of commonality. Our strength comes from uniting on the basis of our commonalties, and ignoring our dissimilarities.

“For their own ulterior motives, our politicians want to divide us as the British did. But you find that if a BJP or VHP man is not given a ticket for contesting elections by the party, overnight he becomes a Congress man... and vice versa. Where is the ideology?

“We Rotarians need to understand this and educate voters about the similarities between all religions. Unless we achieve national integration, the country cannot move forward. In the words of an RI President, ‘Working together works.’

Culture defines nationhood

“I have been to Indonesia four times. In Jogjakarta, which is a big city, second only to Jakarta, there is a Hindu temple and also a Buddhist temple. In this city where 99% of the population is Muslim, these temples are immaculately maintained.

“Indonesia became independent after India. Culturally, Indonesia is very diverse, and has numerous local languages. But all Indonesians have only one national language and a single national dress. You can’t tell a Muslim from a Hindu, or a Buddhist or from Christian on the basis of their costume. Why can’t we follow this example and become one nation? Multiple religions don’t prevent the emergence of a nation.

“On the other hand, religion does not make a nation. Pakistan was created on the assumption of religion was the foundation of nationhood, but Bangladeshis asserted their separate nationhood.

“In Kerala, it is difficult to tell a Muslim from a Hindu or Christian, because they wear the same dress, have similar cuisines and speak the same language. A Keralite Hindu feels a closer kinship with a Keralite Muslim than to a Bengali Hindu or a Punjabi Hindu. Barring his religion, an Indonesian Muslim has little similarity with an Arab Muslim or a Punjabi Muslim.

Celebrating festivals together

“Indians were one before the British came. I come from Palanpur, which was a Nawabi state. The Nawab used to take salute of Dassera procession, and many non- Muslims used to take out many tazias. Even in Pune, Surat and Ahmedabad, non-Muslims used to take out tazias. But we have lost this rich cultural tradition.

“Most of us in this hall believe in Rotary principles, but we need to do more. How can we achieve national integration? All our festivals — Diwali, Dassera, Id, Christmas — are based on religion. We celebrate them with fervour.

Harnessing retired experts

“I will also leave yet another thought with President Harry for your consideration. In the early 1960s, I met an elderly couple from US who helped us in the business of ready-to-wear garments. They stayed with us in Mumbai for two months as our guests, and we did not have to pay them towards professional fees. For them, it was a brief period of post-retirement holiday.

“In the US, France, UK and other Western countries, corporate CEOs who retire offer their services to the underprivileged, upcoming entrepreneurs, and small enterprises who cannot afford to pay high fees of professional consultants. There are many retired men like me in Rotary, and many retired corporate CEOs outside Rotary also. All these are excellent human resources. Rotary can take an initiative to tap this rich resource by organizing an association of retired executives.

“For instance, Vithal Palekar, who is retired and has a rich professional experience, can be a rich resource for entrepreneurs. It would be immensely satisfying for retired CEOs to continue to be useful to society and to contribute to national good, and they work mainly for self-satisfaction and remaining relevant, and not for pecuniary gains alone,” concluded Rtn Fakhruddin Khorakiwala.

Q&A

Rtn Burjor Poonawala: Over the past thousands of years, religions have been responsible for spilling a lot of blood and caused major wars. Do you think we still need these religions, or should we just follow the path of truth?

Rtn F T Khorakiwala: People have forgotten Bapu, who sang: ‘Vaishnav janato thene kahiye, je peeda parayi janere...” If all of us try to become better followers of our own religions — better Muslims, better Hindus, better Christians, better Sikhs — all people can live in brotherhood in this country. Maulanas and maulvis are crying out that Islam is in danger. I tell them that Islam is in danger because of fanatic Muslims, not because of non-Muslims. All religions help us to become good humans, if we understand their true spirit.

Rtn Shanta Chatterji: Would you recommend abolition of all religious holidays, and introduction of new secular holidays such as Earth Day, Forest Day, etc. in addition to Independence Day and Republic Day?

Rtn F T Khorakiwala: I have been celebrating in my own little way the Independence Day and Republic Day in the slums of Mumbai, where I contribute half the organizing cost. Our accent should be to celebrate such festivals mainly in slum localities. I am amazed at the extraordinary level of talent in the slums. They organize these events wonderfully well, if only we take a little more interest in them.