Creating conflict in peaceful communities

MARI MARCEL THAKAEKARA's recent article on conversion evoked a plethora of responses which ranged from agreement with the views expressed, to joining issue with her. The writer says what amazed her was the fundamentalist reactions the piece evoked. In the end, it convinced her that the time had come to recreate the secular fabric of our society.

MY article on the conversion debate (The Hindu, February 6) has generated more responses than for anything else I have ever written. The responses ranged from those who were pleased with it to those who thought I was soft on the "rice conversions", to a letter recently, attempting to prove that Adivasis are indeed Hindu. However, my husband felt I was "softer" on Christian fundamentalists than Hindu.

In defence, I can only reiterate, that I am categorically opposed to taking sides. Yet, I must confess that my anger and outrage is strongest when I encounter reports about people burnt to death for supposedly religious reasons. What amazed me though, were the vehement, almost fundamentalist, reactions, both of a Sangh Parivar, and born again Christian nature that the article provoked. I have known that religion produces highly emotional responses, but just how emotional was what amazed me. Hindus, Muslims and Christians, people who have been in college together, with years of close friendship behind them, suddenly become totally illogical in ordinary after-dinner conversations on the subject of religion.

Passive people, Hindus who rarely bother to enter a temple and Christians who go to Church once a year on Good Friday, are all ready to die for their faith all of a sudden.

Once the religious arguments start, objectivity flies out of the window. Christians argue passionately about their right to freedom of expression. They can practise and preach according to the Constitution. Yet when the Babri Masjid incident took place, I was ashamed at the deafening silence, the lack of effective protest from Christian leaders. For me, "Thy kingdom come" meant fighting for a kingdom of justice, peace, equality. That is, working for the poor, the downtrodden, the disabled and the oppressed. And "go tell everyone" the gospel message that fundamentalists take as Christ's command to spread Christianity or convert, was to spread the justice message, to work for a decent world, not pour water on someone's head and consider them Christianised.

Yet, this point of view would be considered sacrilegious by some Christians. Similarly, I would say to the Sangh Parivar it is time to get your act together. You cannot continue to stone dalits to death for daring to enter a temple and then express outrage when they turn to another religion. It is ridiculous and illogical. So the reform movements which started with Rammohun Roy and were taken up sporadically by other Hindu reformists have to continue and to continue seriously. The biggest threat to Hinduism comes not from other religions, but from the abuses within. We need to look after our widows in Varanasi, not merely react violently to a book or film which exposes the vileness of our systems.

All of us Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains or Adivasis need to develop a questioning attitude. If priests or religious leaders exhort their followers to violence and hatred against other people, they are rabble rousers of the worst kind, evil beings. No religion preaches hatred. Yet every devil can quote the scriptures to bolster up his own evil arguments. You need an Asghar Ali Engineer to find the texts of the Koran which counter Arun Shourie's Jehad exhortations. The Old Testament "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" is neutralised by the New Testament "Love your neighbour as yourself". Similarly, there are Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) cadres brainwashed into thinking it is their duty, dharma, to protect Hinduism by any means quoting Krishna to Arjuna, whereas they conveniently gloss over the verses of the Gita which say "he who hates no creature, who is friendly and compassionate to all, that devotee is dear to me."

In the West there is apathy and cynicism towards Christianity. Churches are empty even as young people flock to the East to Sai Baba, the Dalai Lama and Maharishis of every shape and size, in a frenetic search for spirituality. That is because the Christian Church is in need of renewal. In its obsession with institutionalising itself, it has strayed far from the original teachings of Christ. It has lost its relevance, its challenge and its charisma. This is true of most religions. Young people are ruthlessly dismissive, they see through the false prophets who praclaim one message but hypocritically practise another. I was appalled to hear a Roman Catholic priest who had just built an obscenely expensive church in Banaswadi, Bangalore, exhort his poor and middle class parishioners to stop feeding their children meat and fish and give that money towards the building fund. There may be the need for a church, temple or mosque. But in a country with millions of starving and homeless people it is making a mockery of religion for every religion asks its flock to look after the poor, not to build opulent, extravagant edifices in the name of God. It is subverting religion.

None of this, however, has any real connection with the fundamentalism which is currently rearing its sinister form in hydra headed ugly incidents all over the country. Behind the conversion debate only one concern is paramount - and that is political power.

Since Independence, every political party has played the communal card whenever election time draws near. When each party carefully selects political candidates on the basis of religion or caste, it is encouraging and continuing the divide and rule tactics of its colonial masters. In fact, the caste and communal cards have been fine tuned to an art form in the political games that are played in this country. And no political party can absolve itself on this count. Worse, parties take on board hoodlums and gangsters who use their clout in political circles to settle scores and extort money or merely unleash terror on innocent victims. This was seen when the Youth Congress(I) goons were given a free hand to terrorise Sikhs all over the country after Indira Gandhi's assassination. The Army could have been called in to stop the genocide. Instead Rajiv Gandhi came out with his grandiose "when a tree falls the earth is bound to shake" nonsense. And the murderers of innocent Sikhs strut around the capital scot-free, while Sikh widows and orphans watch these monsters with bitterness and anger in their hearts. It is our leaders who set the tone. And give the nod to their lumpen followers to act with impunity. Then we wonder why terrorists are born. We have created them.

Whenever riots take place, the motive is rarely religion. Some group or individual starts the trouble with beef thrown in a temple or pork thrown outside a mosque. The strike is designed to inflame religious sentiments. Behind it may be political or private scores to settle, a land tussle, personal vendetta. Everywhere in the country, Muslims and Hindus live in peace till someone ignites a destructive flame. People contribute to each other's festivals, exchange sweets. The script of the Mahabharata which had millions of devout Hindus glued to their television sets was written by a Muslim. Our nuclear bomb was created by a Muslim. I saw Uma Bharati praying in St. Judes Shrine, Jhansi, reputed to produce miracles for desperate cases and even Arun Shourie sat quietly in St.Judes while his wife prayed for a miracle. When I saw Uma Bharati praying in the Catholic cathedral in Jhansi, I wondered if this could be the same woman who danced like a demon when the mosque burned - it seemed unbelievable. How can these same people work to manufacture hatred against other religious groups? Do they not see that by spreading a creed of hate and destruction they are aiding the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) in bringing about the destabilisation of our country? That we are heading toward a possible balkanisation, leaving uncertainty and violent intolerance as the only legacy for our children?

There are enough outside forces waiting gleefully for India to turn into a Kosovo. Each time a group of friends gets into an acrimonious, pointless religious debate we are contributing to the forces of fascism. Neither can we afford to sit back and be fence sitters or passive onlookers. Every single family should actively try to build bridges with families of other communities. Start communal harmony clubs in your neighbourhood. Unless those against hatred and intolerance bank themselves together forcefully and effectively, we can become engulfed by evil like Nazi Germany.

The Central government should for a start, ban the use of loud speakers for all festivals.

At some times of the year the cacophony of blaring religious music is enough to turn away every god, never mind the deafening impact on mere humans. Every December, in Gudalur and most South Indian towns, we are forced to listen to simultaneous blasts from the Sabarimala pilgrims, terrible pop music with religious sentiments, designed to offend purists, tuneless Alleluias from the unimaginative, and definitely unmusical Pentecostal Christians and of course, compulsory namaz five times a day from every mosque in the town. It is enough to turn a saint agnostic. The West Bengal Government had the courage to ban the use of loudspeakers for religious festivals and celebrations. Environmentalists everywhere should campaign against loudspeakers, at least in the interests of noise pollution.

The year 2000 is an epic Census year. It is time for us to build into the fabric of our country the weave of real secularism. An India where you do not have to be branded by your caste or religion, where government forms do not ask you pointless, loaded caste or community questions. Where Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Sikhs or Adivasis can feel they belong equally to this country and no one is a second class citizen. Where we can rest secure that our children, all our children, will live in peace and harmony, even if prosperity is a distant dream. We can do it. But we have to work together, really hard, through schools and colleges, neighbourhoods and newspapers, multinationals and advertising agencies to create the India we want. And the time to start is now.

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