The joint effort of Students Islamic Organisation of India and Political Science Department, Banaras Hindu University in organising the International Conference on “Communal Harmony and Nation Building-2015” is well known in academic circles. As Past, SIO and Pol. Sci. (BHU), after the successful conclusion of the said conference decided to come together again in February 2016 for a second international conference on Communal Harmony and Nation Building with the subthemes like Tolerance, Pluralism & Social Cohesion in Hinduism & Islam; Religious Values and Socio Economic Development; Concept of God in Major Religions; and Gender discourse in Hinduism & Islam.

However, we are sorry to notify that due to convocation ceremony to be held in BHU in the same dates, the second International Conference on “Communal Harmony and Nation Building” has been postponed. We express regret to all our guest-speakers, research scholars, paper presenters and most importantly students who were eagerly looking forward to the conference.

While SIO, despite its meagre resources, pledges to conduct such dialogues and conferences in future as well, we take this opportunity to appeal to the government and university administrations all over the country to create an academic atmosphere of debates and discussions – or else the ambience of grave intolerance and fanaticism that we are witnessing in the treatment meted out, earlier to HCU students and now to JNU students, would be perpetuated in our universities.