Opinion - Editorials

Impinging on religious freedom

THE NOTICE SERVED on the American missionary, Joseph Cooper, to leave India within a week may be an appropriate action by the civil authorities in Kerala on the grounds that he should not have spoken at a religious meeting after coming into the country on a tourist visa. But then, the issues involved in this case are certainly not those that could conveniently be reduced to a matter of immigration rules. The violence let loose against Mr. Cooper and his associates near Thiruvananthapuram was clearly a fallout of the majoritarian political agenda at work and hence warranted an approach that had to be distinctly different from dealing with ordinary instances of breach of law and order. It is in this context that the measures taken by the Congress-led United Democratic Front Government in Kerala appear to be inadequate. While the civil authorities in the district did what was expected of them — detain a number of suspects — the fact that the political establishment, including the Chief Minister, A.K. Antony, had refrained from speaking out against the violent attack and identifying the political forces behind the heinous crime raises some serious concerns.

The silence maintained by the AICC establishment in this context is indeed conspicuous. The Thiruvananthapuram incident was certainly one of the many instances in recent years where the pluralist foundations of the polity were sought to be destroyed by elements associated with the Sangh Parivar outfits and pursuing the majoritarian agenda. The people involved were not demonstrating in protest against his violation of the visa rules; they indulged in an unpardonable and grievous assault. Their intention was to drive a sense of fear into the Dalits and the tribals the missionary had visited and "prevail" upon them against converting to Christianity. In this sense, the incident on Friday was one that infringed on the right of the people to choose their religion.

The approach to the incident by the State Government is cause for concern in this context as well as in the context of reports that the police department in the district is now investigating the activities of some of the "gospel groups" functioning there. Such a move, at a time when the political leadership of the BJP is busy endorsing the campaign by the other associates of the Sangh Parivar — against missionary activities across the country — to conjure up fears of the Hindu faith being in danger, will only provide a handle to sections within the civil administration to harass even those missionaries who are involved in running educational institutions as well as health care centres across Kerala. While the need to put the activities of the missionaries and their source of funds through the scanner and the enforcement of immigration rules is justified in the abstract, the fact is that such a focus in the immediate aftermath of the attack and in a context where the majoritarian virus has infected the social fabric across the country will not only be abused by sections within the bureaucracy but will also lend a sense of legitimacy to the violent ways of the storm troopers of the various Sangh Parivar outfits.

The stoic silence maintained by the AICC and the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, after the incident near Thiruvananthapuram is indeed surprising in this context. It is rather strange that the Congress as a party continues to hedge on the question of setting itself as categorically against the majoritarian campaign even after the experience in Gujarat recently. By refusing to come out against such political machinations by the BJP and its other associates, the Congress is clearly pandering to the same majoritarian political temptation and abdicating its responsibility, as the main opposition party (also in power in as many as 14 States), to defend the pluralist values that are integral to democratic India.

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