NEW DELHI, India—Christian leaders in New Delhi have joined their Hindu, Sikh and Muslim counterparts in a peace march against the spread of hatred in the name of religion.

Church of North India Bishop Karam Masih and Roman Catholic Archbishop Vincent Concessao joined prominent national leaders for the final stretch of the five-day march, which ended at Raj Ghat, the Mahatma Gandhi memorial, on Oct. 2, a national holiday commemorating Gandhi's birthday.

Christian schoolchildren were among hundreds from schools in Delhi who walked a few kilometers carrying placards saying “shed hatred” and “let's keep Gandhi alive.”

Several dozen peace activists, a majority of them Hindu, marched the length of the 700-kilometer route, starting on Sept. 27 near Ayodhya, a Hindu holy town.

The march ended at the sacred flame at Raj Ghat, the spot where Gandhi was cremated.

Church of North India pastor Valson Thampu, one of the march organizers, told ENI: “At a time when the merchants of [ethnic hatred] are trying to divide the nation and polarize [religious] groups, our message is let us unite and not divide people in the name of God.”

The exploitation of religious sentiments for political gain, Thampu said, was “one of the greatest evils faced by Indian society now. That is why we decided to carry out this march.”

Thampu lamented, however, that the government of the state of Uttar Pradesh had refused permission to begin the march from Ayodhya itself—a town that had become a “symbol of the misuse of religion for divisive purposes” in recent years.

Thampu was referring to the meteoric rise of the ruling pro-Hindu BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) over the past decade after a massive campaign to build a large Hindu temple at a disputed religious site in the town of Ayodhya.

That campaign culminated in the razing of a 16th-century Muslim mosque at the Ayodhya site in 1992 by Hindu zealots, who claimed it had been built after demolishing a Hindu temple on the site, believed to be the spot where Hindu deity Ram was born.

The razing of the mosque led to nationwide riots between Hindus and Muslims that left several thousend dead.

— Ecumenical News

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