On Saturday, December 5, 2020, admirers gathered via the video chat service Zoom to celebrate the 88th birthday of Indian humanist, lawyer and social worker Dr. Krishnasamy Veeramani. (Veeramani was actually born on December 2, 1933.)

Dr. Veeramani was a follower and admirer of the great Indian reformer and atheist Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, commonly known simply as Periyar. He started the Self-respect movement in India and is regarded as the Father of the Dravidian movement.

Veeramani is a courageous social justice activist who has gone to jail several times in defense of the poor and oppressed of India. In this regard he has much in common with great humanists in Nigeria such as Nobel laureate (literature) Wole Soyinka and the late educator Tai Solarin.

Solarin regularly put his life on the line while participating in pro-democracy protests against oppressive Nigerian leaders. In fact, the day before he died, he participated in a pro-democracy march against then-Nigerian dictator Sani Abacha. Nigerian soldiers apprehended Solarin, but many other Nigerian protesters demanded his release. The soldiers then drove Solarin near the end of the march and released him so that he was able to finish it. Thus, Solarin was a defender of the downtrodden until the very end of his life.

Soyinka has been to jail and had his life threatened by Nigerian authorities. He has fought against government corruption in Nigeria and Muslim extremism. When Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini placed a fatwa upon author Salman Rushdie for writing The Satanic Verses in 1989, Soyinka said that if any harm came to Rushdie, the world should bomb Iran with pastiches from The Satanic Verses. Shortly after his statement, extremist Muslims from Kano in northern Nigeria placed a fatwa upon Soyinka. After Solarin’s death, Soyinka dedicated his book The Open Sore of a Continent, to the deceased educator.

Dr. Veeramani does much more than promote his humanist worldview. Like the late humanist giant Paul Kurtz, he believes in finding common ground with those with whom he disagrees on various issues. Before he died, Kurtz, through the Institute for Science and Human Values (now the Kurtz Institute) was eager to work for a better world by drawing upon the common moral decencies and ethical excellences embraced by human beings from all backgrounds and from all over the world. They include sharing, kindness, honesty, and so forth.

Dr. Veeramani also has great respect for the youth, their contributions to society, and their potential. He understands that despite their lack of life experiences, they still have much to teach older people on many subjects.

Similarly, Dr. Veeramani is not elitist. He places great value upon practical training and sees great worth in people from all classes. He believes that theory and practice are equally important and values honest work regardless of one’s position in life.

Like Kurtz, Dr. Veeramani is also an institution builder. He recognizes that without institutions, ideas could be cast aside and important movements could be destroyed. To this end, Dr. Veeramani has been heavily involved in a major institution of higher learning furthering the work and ideals of the aforementioned Periyar.

It is more important than ever to have leaders with Dr. Veeramani’s vision, energy, courage and determination. India is becoming increasingly reactionary and authoritarian. Hindu nationalists are becoming increasingly militant, influential, powerful and dangerous.

Perhaps the best evidence of this troubling phenomenon is opposition to the so-called “love jihad,” in which militant Hindu men accuse Muslim men of marrying Hindu women to convert them to Islam. Some critics go so far as to claim that the Muslim men rape and kidnap the women. Others go so far as to contend that this is all part of an international Muslim conspiracy.

One Indian state has already passed a law aimed at preventing Muslim men from marrying Hindu women. Four other states are planning similar laws. (Many Hindus do not object to Hindu men marrying Muslim women.) These kinds of laws are clearly undemocratic and anti-humanistic, and Dr. Veeramani would have to agree.

Dr. Veeramani has been a valuable and consistent defender of women’s rights. Complete equality of opportunity between the sexes is integral to humanism and democracy. In many countries, women are becoming increasingly involved in positions of leadership in the organized humanist movement. Women throughout Black America, the Philippines, Uganda and other parts of the globe are becoming increasingly outspoken among humanists.

For this reason, it would be great to see more Indian women networking with their humanist counterparts in other parts of the world. For example, “women of color” hold a major humanist gathering every year in the U.S. Sikivu Hutchinson of Los Angeles has been a major leader in this highly successful event. More Indian humanists need to participate.

Finally, Dr. Veeramani’s example could be of great value to organized humanists in Africa. Since the 1990s, African humanists have been interested in working with Indian humanists. Africans and Indians have much in common culturally and in numerous other ways.

Let us all move forward using Dr. Veeramani’s sterling example. Indeed, if such is the case, organized humanism will be in great hands for years to come.

[This article is based on comments I made at the aforementioned Zoom celebration of Dr. Veeramani’s birthday on December 5, 2020.]