3rd International Interfaith conference held on 12th to 14th July, 2012 at CMS Lucknow .

The following Paper was prepared for the 3rd  International Interfaith conference held on 12th to 14th July, 2012 at Lucknow .

        Inter faith Dialogue and the Right use of Media to promote it…

 We may have different religions, different languages, different faiths, different color and skin, but we belong to one human race said Koffi Annon. But that is true in physical sense. The fact is we are not human beings having a Spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a Human experience. Every human contains the element of the soft and the hard. For the sake of world peace, dialogues within faiths and among them will strengthen the soft aspect.

 Hon.Justice Adel Omar Sherif  Supreme Constitutional Court Of Egypt
& Mukesh Sharma Deputy DG Doordarshan inaugurating the Seminar

Well you all are doing your part to ensure that the dialogues must continue. How can we as media persons contribute to these Inter Faith dialogues. In the parlance of the Advertising world, Hammering is the mantra to ensure that you are seen and heard. So how do we hammer our point home, on this subject?

With Shri Jagdish Gandhi...

Customizing the product is the name of the game. Our end product is world peace. To achieve that, we will require the entire multimedia world to help us. Today all forms of media are sitting back to back, with each other on a single platform, called the computer. You can watch a film, listen to radio, view videos, read a newspaper, chat with people on your hand held device.  Today’s generation is comfortable with this platform and is using it to the hilt.  But the 50 plus cant connect with it. That’s where the divide lies, called the great digital divide. 

With the Hon.Justce,..Egypt

 Therefore, apart from bringing different religions, different faiths and different castes to come together and connect on one table, the young and old will not gel even if they are from the same community, because of the this great digital divide. As a first step the 50 plus needs to brush up their skills to become digitally savvy, if they want to take part in the dialogues. The point I am trying to drive home is that, in the last two decades we have seen an enormous growth of technology and the world is no more the fragmented and poles apart. It’s now a global village, connected through technology. So what our fore fathers could not do in so many years’, digital media has done it in just 20 plus years. It has done half the job by uniting the world, through technology; we will have to do the remaining, by uniting the world spiritually through Interfaith Dialogues

 Archna Pande..the Principal Organiser

Now let’s indulge in a little history of this inter faith dialogue. How many of us know, that Inter faith dialogue in our country was first approached professionally by the Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great. He called the movement DIN E ILAHI. Akbar not only tolerated religions other then Islam, he encouraged interfaith discussions and debates. After listening to many religious scholars and wise men from the prominent religions of his empire i.e. Islam, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Judaism and to less extent Jainism, he decided, that no one faith was entirely and exclusively true, he developed this interfaith belief into a new religion called DIN E ILAHI or Divine faith and encouraged its subjects to follow it.

It is a fact that DIN E ILAHI never gained a prominent following, still, it promoted many universal values, found in these religions, including, compassion, piety, abstinence and prudence. History says it forbade celibacy and animal slaughter.

     

Imagine if the Mogul King Akbar had the support of the new media i.e. face book, twitter, SMS, Mobile, tablets, I pads, TV etc., DIN E ILAHI could have been a Brand & an important land mark Vis a Vis Inter Faith Dialogue.

That’s why I emphasis on Brand building. I may sound like a marketing guru but without a proper media plan, media focus, media outlook and use of all media vehicles, Inter faith dialogue will find hard to gain momentum.

Building Brand “Inter Faith”... Satyamev Jayte a case study……   

The citation for the Paper...

Like Amir Khan’s TV show Satyamev Jayte we need to discuss brand Inter Faith on all media platforms. When Amir was approached by Star TV for the show he made it clear, unless the show is beamed on the Terrestrial TV network, there will not be any impact. Only Doordarshan has terrestrial broadcast facility and the national channel was roped in by the rival broadcaster Star TV.  To ensure that the coverage of the show was 100% in the country, Amir took the help of All India Radio to make it successful. And Metro audience was roped in through the private Radio channels.  Amir knew that without the help of the print medium, his idea of making Satyamev Jayte a Brand will remain a dream.  So, Amir talked about the show Satyamev Jayte every Monday through the columns of Hindustan Times, after its simulcast on Sunday, on both Star and Doordarshan. Apart from the above Satyamev jayte website was created and people were asked to log in to give their views. Free flow of SMS, Twitter and face book further helped the show Satyamev Jayte to consolidate its position. The series which commenced on 3^rd May 2012, within 40 days, achieved a brand name and people are talking about it. Imagine if Akbar the Great had these media platforms at his disposal, today DIN E ILAHI would have been a force to reckon with.

Former CBI Director at the conference

 Brand inter faith and heart warming tale of communal harmony, a Muslim man performs Kanyadan of a tribal Hindu girl.

Media plan for our brand Interfaith
As a first step we need to ensure that even after this seminar is over, we must continue to talk, to keep the Inter Faith dialogue alive. So we need to have a media plan for our brand Interfaith. As a first step let’s create a Blog or a web page, post conference, and put our thoughts and ideas on this platform. Before we leave, we must share our Email id with each other in order to keep the Interfaith Dialogue on.  So, what can we share on this Blog…Stories... Inter Faith Success stories. These tales can be the building blocks for our brand Interfaith. For e.g. let’s revisit the story of the Hindu girl child Mahi, who succumbed to death in an open bore well. How many of us know that the child was finally lifted out by the heroic efforts of a Muslim dry bore well digger Sohrab Khan. No doubt the army and the administration were doing their efforts, but, to break the final ice, it was Sohrab Khan’s heroic efforts that were praiseworthy. But how much media attention he got, we all know.     

 Satish Jacob(BBC) & delegates at the  conference

   In yet another heart warming tale of communal amity, a Muslim man performed Kanyadan of a tribal hindu girl, Alpa, at a Village ravaged during the post Godhra riots, even as her own relatives stayed away. Acknowledging their generosity Acknowledging their generosity, Madhoben said ,"The marriage ceremony of my daughter could not have taken place without the help from the Muslim community as my own relatives stayed away. This may be due to my staying in this locality of the village. Stories hve a powerful way to connect.They down load very fast in our memories. That is why we must share the heartrending tales to keep the human element alive.

( Concluding part coming up next week.... Hindu Sacrificed a child to keep word to Muslim)