Former CJI Khehar says to be global power India has to reject communal bend of mind

Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice JS Khehar stressed the need for a peaceful resolution to the Ayodhya dispute. He was delivering the Lal Bahadur Shastri lecture in New Delhi on Thursday. 

Referring to the rise and consolidation of communal forces in the country, Justice Khehar said that India had opted for the path of "absolute secularism" after independence.

He also said that during the Partition both Hindus and Muslims had suffered the "greatest violence" and post-independence while Pakistan decided to be an Islamic state, India chose to become secular.

"The greatest violence came when India became independent. (It saw) a brutality that generations cannot forget. But something wonderful happened in India. When Pakistan became an Islamic state, India chose to become secular," he said.

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“India is a secular country and is looking to be a global power. If you have to be a global power, can you be communal in today's world? Therefore everything happening today is not in the interest of this country, at least if we are projecting a communal bend of mind, he added. 

He said when he was the CJI he had suggested that he would be ready to mediate on Ayodhya issue.