Dear Friend,

This is to invite you to the National Convention of All India Secular Forum on 28 and 29th September 2002 to be held in Mumbai.

Just to recall we already had two zonal meetings to form an All India body to strive for secular India. The North zone meeting was held in Pachmadhi (MP) in which delegates from Northern states had attended. This was held on May 11& 12, 2001. In this meeting it was decided to hold the South zone convention as a prelude to the National convention. The provisional name suggested in this meeting was Rashtriya Secular Manch. At this meeting a sub committee was formed to chalk out a draft manifesto. Also different regional responsibilities were undertaken by activists. The South zonal meeting was held in Hydrabad on 29th-30 September. in which activists from Southern states participated. The provisional name was changed over to All India Secular Forum, draft manifesto was ratified to be presented at the National Convention for final adoption. You also must have received three issues of the newsletter of the forum.

We are aware of the mammoth tasks ahead of us. Especially after Godhra tragedy and Gujarat carnage we are facing a do or die situation. If we are unable to defend democracy now, the Nation will be facing a serious crisis. The communal politics has vitiated the atmosphere further threatening the very concept of Indian Constitution. In these grim times let us pick up the thread from our earlier meetings and try to form an All India coalition of the activist groups and individuals to implement the campaigns and other activities to defend our Democracy.

We look Forward to your positive response. On first day of the meet, we will have experience sharing from different regions and on the second day we will chalk out an action program. Do inform other interested and concerned activists. Do confirm your participation at the earliest. We will be offering local hospitality.