It was a very memorable day, there were in all 3000 Hindus ,Muslims, Christians almost equal in number. These people of all religions gathered , went on a procession , raised slogans on Communal harmony ,stood before the places of worship of all the three religions , sang prayer songs of all the three religions and took oath to promote communal harmony. Interesting thing was when songs of other religions were sung before the place of worship of each religion , the people inside their place of worship , came out and did not quarrel for singing other religious songs in front of their place of worship , but instead joined all the religious prayer. (Sarva Madha Prarthana). Finally the big turnout of people attended a mammoth Communal Harmony Public Meeting. Religious leaders of all the three religions spoke . The Collector Sudeep Jain presided over and represented the Jains too . Mr.M.B. Nirmal, the Founder of Ma, Innovator of the concept and author of Ma book delivered the key note address .
In his speech, Mr.M.B.Nirmal said “The city of Nagapatinam symbolizes communal harmony. It is a sacred place for Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Pilgrims of all these religions day in and day out gather in Nagapattinam and pray without any trace of communal conflict and tension. They practice perfect communal harmony. There are people particularly the Hindus who go and offer their prayers in the Sani Bhagwan temple, Nagoor Darga and Shrine Velankanni church. We face many common enemies like global warming and cyclones. For the cyclones in particular, Nagapatinam is a chosen path, hence the need for unity here quite important. When the cyclones hit Nagapattinam , it never discriminates people by their religion. It treats everyone alike and people of all people are affected . Ma is the solution to promote Communal harmony and rightly I chose Nagapattinam for its launch, which is being inaugurated here today. The whole country will follow Nagapattinam example”
This was Mr. M.B.Nirmal's speech in 2002 and the unity was stressed from the view point of natural calamities. Following this event, exactly after two years, in the year 2004 , Nagapatinam was the worst victim of Tsunami reiterating the message of Mr.M.B.Nirmal, that the need of the hour was collective unity against larger global enemies which threaten us all. |