Analysis
By Dr. Jaipal Singh
(This article first appeared in Boloji.com – a portal dealing with opinions on current affairs, social ethos, parenting, poetry, and a study of the diversity of India. We are reproducing it in sequence of three for information of our readers)
Playing Victimization Card
More than any community or people, it is the priests and religious leader, political parties and so-called secularists and liberals who actually play and exploit the victimization card to serve their vested interests in a vicious socio-political eco-system; priests do it for the expansion of religion through conversion and their continued hold over the community; political leaders do it for the electoral gain and continued edge and supremacy in power; and the said secularists and liberals do it for their personal image and prosperity. This is the reason why the lynching to death of Deputy Superintendent of Police Ayub Pandith by the militants and fundamentalists in Srinagar, Kashmir does not move their conscience but the death of the police officer vis-a-vis cow slaughter in a village of Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh does.
Traditionally, such a card is so often played in the context of minority communities, institutions and people in this country by these groups. This is the reason why a stray crime committed against an individual of any minority communities, particularly Muslims, often makes a national headline as if the incident is against the entire community while a similar crimes against the majority community fail to catch even the local headline. One such alleged rape and murder of a small eight-year-old innocent girl in the Kathua district in Jammu in January 2018 made national and international headlines for days identifying the victim as a Muslim girl and accused as Hindu perpetrators with crime scene a devasthan (temple), thanks to the biased media, greedy politians and self-proclaimed secularists and liberals giving it a communal colour, thereby sparking widespread protests and outrage.
Yet another case in point could be the treatment of a stone-pelter by the Indian Army in Kashmir Valley in April, 2017 during the by-election for the Srinagar-Budgam parliamentary constituency. Called upon to rescue a polling station team against a charged and violent crowd, an army major employed an unconventional method of strapping a stone-pelter with the bonnet of a jeep and thus avoid the furry of stone-pelting crowd while rescuing the polling team without any violence and firing of a bullet. The event was later described as “India is Witnessing its General Dyer Moment in Kashmir” by an alleged Social Scientist and Historian in an article showing the Indian Army in a poor light. The left-leaning author got intant support from the left, oldest national party and said secularists and liberals. Consequently, the stone-pelter became an icon overnight of the so-called victimized Kashmiri youth by the Indian Army and the debate escalated and dominated on media nationally and internationally for weeks.
While the incidents of love jihad, fundamentalism and Islamic radicalization in the country are not mere fictions, and have actually occurred and continuing since long, several instances of evangelic efforts of conversion too have been noticed in the recent past. Needless to mention that certain groups and individuals from the two Abrahamic religions are involved in such acts and target are always the vulnerable and weaker sections of the majority community. The source of funding of such activities is mostly foreign aid from the religious and other concerns located in the Western and Gulf countries. They do this to violate and destabilize the age old religion and culture of India and play as victims if caught or any punitive action is taken by the present government.
Only recently, the Indian mainstream media and Press was buzzed with the sensational news of the killing of an American missionary by the aborigines in the prohibited North Sentinel Island in the Union Territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. There are reasonable leads and evidences that the man made an illegal entry in the island with the aim of the conversion of tribals. In another case, the police arrested four priests and booked another 271 people on the charges of promoting conversion in Christianity and defaming Hinduism by spreading misinformation in August/September 2018 in the Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh. In yet another shocking case in the Western UP in June 2018, another similar racket was busted in Meerut where the Pastor of a church was making the affidavits of seventeen Hindu families for embracing the Christianity. Prior to independence, most parts of the far north-east region had tribal population with their own customs, rituals and religious beliefs. Needless to mention, today the states like Nagaland, Mizorum and Meghalaya have over 88%, 87% and 83% Christian population, respectively.
In fact, many of these coercive and evangelical efforts have foreign hand and money. Consequently, the present government has taken steps to stop foreign funding from dubious sources for doubtful reasons. It is not surprising that rattled with these developments, priests and religious leaders of such organizations and groups have turned against the present political dispensation. The recent circular of the Archbishop of Delhi asking Christians to offer prayers and observe a day of fast on every Friday for a “secular nation” ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections appears only an effort in that direction. Quite obviously, a government committed for an equal treatment to all citizens without any preferential treatment or appeasement to any creed or community is an eyesore when the prime minister of the previous regime was known publicly on record that the minorities have first claim on to the resources of this country.
In fact, some other instances too have come to light exposing illegalities of missionary organizations in Central India engaged in conversion and anti-India propaganda. Consequently, several foreign concerns engaged in such activities too are alarmed and enraged with the action of the present political dispensation. For instance, a Washington based missionary organization International Christian Concern expressed happiness and satisfaction in a tweet on the recent defeat of the Bhartiya Janta Party in three state assembly elections. In yet another release, citing the statements of some Indian priests, a concern was raised that Indian Christians are afraid and insecure. In Jharkhand, a recent investigation has revealed how some Church associated NGOs receiving foreign funds have been engaged in fake accounts, misuse of funds and falsification of data and information.
The secularism implies equal treatment to all religions in India without endorsing or giving any preferential treatment to any one by the state. Unfortunately for some political parties, self-proclaimed secularists and liberals in India, the secularism has become merely a narrow interpretation of concern for the religious appeasement of the minorities, particularly the Muslims with approximately 15% population, which they perceive more as a potential vote bank. The so-called ‘secular' parties have pampered minorities, mainly the Muslims and Christians, to use them as a vote bank over the years by inciting a fear psychosis during the elections and intervening period that they must support them or else the ‘communal BJP' would come to power. The intolerance card often serves very convenient and handy tool for these elements to spread insecurity and fear among the minorities.
Hindsight
As it appears the anguish or outburst of Shah has served its purpose; his trigger has shot the “debate on intolerance” in media and press though, as of now, on a lower intensity and pitch. Some Indian political parties and celebrities have reacted in favour or against; even the Pakistani premier has wasted no time in endorsing Shah and said that his remarks describe “intolerance against Muslims in India”, further adding that Muhammed Ali Jinnah had understood this “intolerance” that is why Pakistan was formed. One wonders if India really needs a sermon from Pakistan where only in the recent past, not to talk of the plight of Hindu minorities, a minor Christian boy was beaten to death by his own teenage classmates in knowledge and full view of the class teacher and another Christian young woman worker was sentenced to death in a blasphemy row. The fault of the victims in both cases was that they had drawn water from the same source in use of the members of majority community. Shah is certainly within his right of being angry and exercising the freedom of expression but it would certainly have been more appropriate if a person of his status and maturity questioned the law and order in Uttar Pradesh, the effectiveness of the administration and state government or even fanatic Hindu organization, if any, but putting the entire nation and governance under dock and trial for the sake of perceived “intolerance” appears grossly unfair and motivated.
As for the issue of intolerance in Hinduism and two dominant Abrahamic religions, despite such connotation, embedded sense and implications in the debate, the discourse on religions is a sensitive topic and needs to be discussed separately with due care and diligence. But even a cursory and dispassionate glimpse on the scriptures and texts depicting the Indian civilization, culture and inborn religions (Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Jainism) would vindicate that India has traditionally been a land of virtue and knowledge based value system with tolerance as an essential and ingrained component of it. No other human race or community in the world has ever been as tolerant as native Indians. Hinduism values and endorses the concept that the methodology and means may be different but all belief systems lead to the same end goal; hence they should be respected by all. Hindus do not interfere in other belief systems; they do not believe in conversion or criticism of other religions; and react or fight back only when their values and belief system is deliberately hurt, violated or threatened by others.
It is true that the present political dispensation governing the country does not suit to some religious groups and communities, opposition parties particularly the oldest national party, and pseudo-secularists and pseudo-liberals. They have been part of the common eco-system evolved over the decades after independence in a sort of symbiotic relationship. For illustration, the many leaders and last prime minister of the grand old party are on record to have said that the minorities are their first preference or minorities have first claim over the resources of the country; many minority religious organizations and groups had free hands and opportunities to prosper as NGOs with uninterrupted foreign funds and agenda of radicalization and conversion remaining unquestioned; and said secularists and liberals have received patronage and prospered as part of the same eco-system. It is obvious that a political dispensation or ideology which insists on an equal treatment and opportunities for all citizens, with preferential treatment or appeasement to none, does not suit to this Eco-system. Therefore, what would be more suitable or opportune time to trigger controversies like this when the Parliamentary elections are due in next few months!
Like any other nationality, India too has its complex socio-political and economic issues; hence conflicts do occur due to such disparities and gaps in perceptions but Hinduism as a religion and common Indian as a citizen and nationalist do not endorse or engage in intolerance. Some individual(s) and organization(s) with vested interests referred to in the previous sections often try to exploit isolated incidents to give them communal colour and publicize it as a case of religious intolerance with a view to polarize the communities for the electoral and other gains. As could be seen how promptly the personal anguish or deliberate anger of a celebrity has been instantly encashed by the Pakistani premier when their own country stands badly exposed today before the world community for all kinds of (communal) crimes and violations against the humanity. India's intolerance is more of a propaganda but the conspiracy and disinformation is so deep-rooted that bursting the bubbles of reality almost appears an improbability. (Concluded)
(The Author is retired ICS officer having varied interests in sports, literature, art and culture. He also had a brief stint as a Lecturer in a post graduate institution. Currently, he is engaged in Advisor capacity with a Central Autonomous Body and a Public Enterprise.)
