A petitioner in Gujarat has challenged the decision of its state government to fund only Hindu religious places for development. Based on it, the Gujarat high court on Wednesday issued notice to the state government to respond to the petition. Other religious faiths like Islam, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism and Zoroastrianism have been reportedly left out of the plan. At this juncture it is not clear under what circumstances the Gujarat government took the decision to fund only Hindu religious places for development. One will have to wait for their response. However, it is absolutely wrong to use the government fund for promotion of one particular religion.
It is against the secular and democratic values of the India. The government of Gujarat should immediately put an end to this practice. The open biasness towards Hindu majority will hurt the secular credential of India. First of all the government fund should not be used for the religious purpose. But if govt really wants, they should provide fund to all religions and not make exception for one particular religion. In Arunachal Pradesh too, the state government should refrain from funding development of religious places whether it is Hindu, Christian, Islam, Buddhist or indigenous faith. Let believer take the responsibilities of developing their religious places. The duty of government is to provide world class road, quality education and standard health care facilities. In a secular democracy like ours, the government should strictly keep away from promoting any religious activities and concentrate only in providing good governance.