Ella Gandhi said that all faiths and scriptures are meant to guide us toward good.

Johannesburg:

Ella Gandhi, a South African peace activist and granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi, said that hatred, hostility and violence are not part of any religious teachings and that those who promote these teachings in the name of religion are misinterpreting their beliefs for mischievous reasons and should Avoid it.

Her comments came as she responded to social media posts claiming that Gandhi Development and Phoenix Settlement Trust deliberately omitted Hindu prayers at an interfaith meeting organized by Phoenix Settlement, which is the home of her grandfather Initiated while serving in Durban.

“All of our beliefs and scriptures are meant to guide us to be kind, compassionate and loving people. Hatred, hostility and violence are not part of our fundamental religious teachings. Those who promote these actions in the name of religion do so out of mischief The reasons misrepresent their beliefs and should be shunned,” Ella said.

Ella, chairman of the Gandhi Development and Phoenix Settlement Trust, said such moves “attempt to create divisions between the Hindu and Muslim communities and alienate Gandhi and myself from the Hindu community”.

In an open letter to The Washington Post, Ella said it was important to state the facts publicly so that the attempted mischief could be stopped immediately.

“For clarification, I have invited many Hindus individually and collectively some Hindu faith leaders to recite Hindu prayers at this event,” Ella said, citing invitations from four Hindu organizations, which she said Organizations are unable to attend due to other commitments.

“In the past, there have been instances in our interfaith prayer services where some or other faiths were absent, not intentionally but because of circumstances that prevented particular faith groups from participating in particular events.

“Importantly, to this day, in the 120 years of the Order’s existence, no one has ever accused us of deliberately leaving out a sect, or of engaging in ‘massive brainwashing’ as the post suggested,” she said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)