South Asia Peoples Convention in Kolkata

South Asia is the least integrated region in the world and that can only change for the better if people-to-people contacts develop, says leaders organising the South Asia Peoples Conference in Kolkata between Oct 16 and 18.

Kolkata Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 12 Oct 2014, 08:57 AM
Updated : 12 Oct 2014, 08:57 AM

"Regional integration does not happen with a few handshakes between Presidents and Prime Ministers. It happens when people across the borders see each others as friends and not as enemies," said Manik Samajdar, convenor of the Bharat Bangladesh Pakistan Peoples Forum (BBPPF) that is organising the South Asia Peoples Convention.

The Convention is part of the centenary celebrations of the first Indian government in exile in 1915 called Arzi-e Huqumat-e Azad Hind.

Raja Mahendra Pratap was its president and Maulana Barkatullah was its prime minister. Later in 1943, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose revived it as he raised the Indian National Army (INA) to drive the British away from India.

"At a time when South Asia appears ever more divided and heading for conflicts within nations and between them, it is legacy of the anti-colonial solidarity that can bring the people of South Asia together. And if people don't come together, governments can't," said Samajdar, detailing the need for both organisations and ideologies to take forward the spirit of South Asian solidarity.

"Neo-liberal economics and stocks markets don't bring people together. A shared vision of future and an ideology that upholds secularism and working class unity brings peoples together and when that happens, our nations will not fight but make peace and grow together," he said.

The South Asian Peoples Convention in Kolkata will bring together representatives of at least 200 pro-democracy and anti-fundamentalist organisations in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan together to discuss future strategies to promote bonding across the border.

Representatives from Nepal, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Myanmar are also expected to join.

The BBPPF plans a Kabul to Moirang bicycle rally next year to uphold the spirit of anti-colonial solidarity to foster people to people contacts in South Asia.

"Kabul is where the government of Arzi-e Huqumat-e Azad Hind was established in 1915 and Moirang in India's Manipur state is where Netaji's INA planted first Indian tricolor on Indian soil in 1944. We want to relive that history and revive those memories to remind our people that we can be one and we can still live in peace despite all imperialist manipulations," said Manik Samajdar.