New Delhi, March 27:

“The fight for secularism has been limited to Muslims only. The countrymen should remember that secularism is not an issue for Muslims alone. In fact, it is the issue for three-fourth of Hindus also. We all must notice the gravity of the danger,” said Prof. Manoj Jha, HOD, Social Work, Delhi University while speaking at a program entitled ‘India Today and Tomorrow’ organized by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind here on Saturday.

Prof. Jha said that “We all are not taking the situation very seriously. We think that India will remain as it has been.”

Commenting on the massive defeat of secular parties in the recent Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Prof. Jha, who is also National Spokesperson of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a coalition partner in the Bihar government, said: “We need not get disappointed. We have lost elections. It’s not a big issue. We may win tomorrow. But more important is that we must not lose heart.”

“We shouldn’t celebrate election victory, nor mourn the defeat. We should strive to win the fight for ideas. We should love the love and hate the hatred, we shouldn’t hate the love, nor love the hatred,” he said.

Prof. Jha said that secular parties lost touch with Dalits and weaker sections while BJP and Sangh Parivar(RSS) penetrated deep in their areas.

“More than questions about EVMs, I admit that there was something going on the ground which we had no idea of. The national flag was being carried along with Bol Bam groups. In villages of Dalits, feet of Dalits were being washed and they were told they were better Hindus. But we remained aloof from those villages,” he said.

He stressed that people will have to fight not only against fascism but also the media.

“Now our fight is going to be bigger because earlier people had pinned hope in media, but now no good thing can be expected from media. Now we will have to fight not only against fascism but also against media,” said Pro. Jha at the event which was presided over by Jamaat’s national president Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari.