This Day That Age
The Takht-Nashini celebrations of His Highness Shah Karim Hazar Imam, the Aga Khan, took place at a colourful and impressive ceremony at the Vallabhai Patel Stadium, Bombay, on March 11. H.H. the Aga Khan, exhorting the members of the Ismaili community, said that while religious faith would always preserve a special identity, the secular loyalty was solely to India and to its elected Government.
He asked them to keep this constantly in their minds. But they should do more still. For while it was true that the Ismailis had developed and grown during the past 80 years, how much more was this true of India herself. India was one of the first great Asian powers to win independence and by voluntarily electing to associate herself with the Commonwealth of Nations, she was also the first to embrace wholeheartedly the concepts of individual liberty and parliamentary democracy.
“In all humility, I suggest that the challenge will most surely be faced and overcome if this nation stands fast by liberal principles which it honours to-day. If India continues to uphold the rights of the individual, if she goes on tolerating the minority as well as the majority points of view, if she never falters in her determination to do everything possible to relieve poverty and human suffering, I feel sure she will triumph over her difficulties and set an example to all those other countries which face similar problems,” the Aga Khan said.
Source: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/13/stories/2008031355520901.htm
Ismailimail 