Communalism is a challenge to peace, and is engineered and part of a political strategy to gain votes, N. Ram, chairman, Kasturi and Sons Limited, said on Monday.

He was delivering a lecture on the topic ‘peace’ at an event organised to celebrate Kolvenbach Library’s annual day. The library, situated in Thiruvanmiyur on the premises of Satya Nilayam, is an institute of philosophy and religion, and serves as the department of philosophy of Loyola College.

“We must recognise communalism in a comprehensive manner. Peace, well-being and hope are endangered by this. It is worse than religious fundamentalism, extremism or fanaticism,” said Mr. Ram.

He pointed out that secularism, as a concept that must be put to work all the time, consists of two principles. The first is that people belonging to all faiths and social sections are equal before the constitution, law and the State. “The other principle is that religion shall not be inducted into politics, that it shall not be exploited for political gain,” he said.

He said that from the experience India has gathered over close to seven decades of Independence, it was clear that communalism can be contained, provided it is not allowed to become a successful political mobilisation strategy.

The awards for a national essay competition for undergraduates, postgraduates and research scholars, organised by the library on the theme ‘the search for peace’, were also presented on the occasion.

A total of 216 students took part in the competition. Of them, six students – M. Raja, J. Arockiaraj, Babu Puthenkulam Mathew in the undergraduates category, and Amaresh Chandra Mali, Arun Kumar M.J and Kumari Veenu Albert in the postgraduates category — bagged the first three prizes.

Fr. Albert Muthumalai, the rector of Satya Nilayam and former principal of Loyola College, also spoke.