RIYADH: Sir Syed Ahmed Khan truly inspires us showing the way for tolerance and unity in diversity by considering Hindus and Muslims as two eyes of India; and if one of them is hurt, the beauty of India is spoiled, Congress leader and actor Raj Babbar said here on Friday.

Babbar, a member of the Upper House of Indian Parliament, was addressing the Sir Syed Day celebration, which was organized by the Aligarh Muslim University Old Boys Association (AMUOBA), Riyadh.

The event, held to pay homage to the great educator and founder of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), began with the recitation of verses from the Holy Qur’an by Abdul Ahad Siddiqui.

On his maiden trip to Riyadh, Babbar was amazed to know about the presence of huge Indian community of different faiths in the Kingdom and expressed sincere gratitude to the Saudi authorities.

He was captivated by the composite culture reflective in the celebration, especially Urdu couplets, phrase and idioms being used by Abdul Raheem and said, “after a long time, I could listen to beautiful words and wise language in a public gathering.”

With reference to the growing intolerance in India by a political group, he said: “For somebody to be inclusive and speak wise, his thought should be wise; for thoughts to be wise, one should grow up respecting human values and not with divisive thinking, and his/her education should be from an institution that talks about humanity like the AMU.”

He underlined that Sir Syed was in favor of education for all and the first graduate of the university was a Hindu, Ishwari Prasad. It is a lesson for those who divide society on religious lines for vote-bank politics, he said.

Welcoming the guests, Suhail Ahmad, the president of AMUOBA, recounted the golden moments for the alma mater and listed current achievements, including the AMU being ranked as the second best university in India by the India Today-Nielsen ranking and the sixth best global Indian university by US News, which also ranks it at 69th position among the Best Global Universities for Mathematics.

AMUOBA-Riyadh general secretary Arshad Khan jointly moderated the function, which was also attended by Parwaiz Hashmi, an AMU alumni and Indian Parliamentarian, and NRI philanthropist Nadeem Tarin. Senior most alumni in Riyadh Ismail Habib Khan presided over the session and vice president Salman Khalid proposed a vote of thanks.

Hashmi echoed the views expressed by Babbar, saying the growing intolerance in India is a concern, but we must not forget that a handful of members or a political party cannot be the representative of the whole Hindu community.