Shashi Tharoor: Stop the Politics of Division

Nehru had warned that the communalism of the majority was especially dangerous because it could present itself as nationalist. Yet, Hindu nationalism is not Indian nationalism. And it has nothing to do with genuine Hinduism either. A reader bearing a Christian name wrote to tell me that when his brother was getting married to a Hindu girl, the Hindu priest made a point of saying to him before the ceremony words to the effect of: "When I say God, I don't mean a particular God." As this reader commented: "It's at moments like that that I can't help but feel proud to be Indian and to be moved by its religiosity -- even though I'm an atheist."

As a Hindu, I relish pointing out that i belong to the only major religion in the world that does not claim to be the only true religion. Hinduism asserts that all ways of belief are equally valid, and Hindus readily venerate the saints, and the sacred objects, of other faiths. Hinduism is a civilisation, not a dogma. There is no such thing as a Hindu heresy. If a Hindu decides he wishes to be a Christian, how does it matter that he has found a different way of stretching his hands out towards God? Truth is one, Vivekananda reminded all Hindus, but there are many ways of attaining it.  read it all

Re-conversions in Orissa -- Tehelka Report by Vijay Simha

 The terror works. In the jungles off Sankarakhol village, one of the first targeted by the militant Hindus, a group of RSS whole-timers are reconverting 18 Christians to Hinduism. It’s a daytime ceremony. The RSS Mandal Mukhiya (head of the Mandal unit) Sudhir Pradhan, a slim bearded man, is in charge. There are 30 Hindus to make sure that the 18 Christians don’t change their mind.

Each of the Christians has brought a Bible, in Oriya, along. They have also brought a coconut each, and some incense sticks, red thread to tie around the wrist, and vermillion for their foreheads. The Christians first burn their Bibles in a small bonfire. They sit in a circle. In the middle are the coconuts, each one signifying a Christian, and the other paraphernalia. The God of the Hills is appeased first in a prayer.

Ashes to ashes This woman’s son is still hiding in the jungles

Then, a Christian rises. He has a coconut in his hand. “I swear that I have become a Hindu today. After today, if I ever become a Christian again, may my dynasty perish,” he says. He breaks the coconut on a stone. The other Christians follow, each one making the same promise. Some murmur, some are loud. A Hindu priest begins to apply vermillion on the foreheads of the Christians-turned-Hindus. One of them protests, but it is too late. There’s a red streak on his forehead as well.

Sudhir Pradhan then takes over. Eyes closed, spine firm, and voice ominous. There is a deep and rhythmic chanting of Om followed by the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred chant of the Hindus. The slogans follow: “Bharat mata ki jai.” “Ganga mata ki jai.” “Gau mata ki jai.” “Sri Ramjanambhoomi ki jai.” They pause for a few moments and the Christians-becoming-Hindus kneel, placing their foreheads on the ground. There’s a final “Jai Shri Ram.” The first stage of reconversion from Christianity to Hinduism is over. The motivation for these Christians to reconvert is life. They want to live in Kandhamal, keep their houses and, maybe, get some regular work.

Months afterward, these Christian-turned- Hindus will be asked to attend a yagya — a Hindu ritual of sacrifice that involves the worship of deities, unity and charity. In the yagya, they will wear saffron clothes and a sacred thread, and get their heads shaved. They will offer a few goats and some rice as fee. They will be given Gau Mutra (cow urine) and Tulsi water to drink. They will take Hindu vows. Then, they will share the mutton and rice (cooked from their offerings) in a small feast. This completes their reconversion. From then on, they will have a Tulsi plant in their homes, have pictures of Hindu gods on their walls, and celebrate Hindu festivals. They will pray only to Hindu gods.

Pradhan is happy. He’s done his job for the day. He explains the difference between a Hindu and a Christian. “They (Christians) eat cows. We (Hindus) worship cows.” Therefore, “people who eat cows should be given the same treatment that they give the cows.” Pradhan says Togadia has laid down the policy. “He has already announced that there is no place for Christians. If Christians don’t become Hindus, they have to go. We don’t care where they go. They must leave Orissa,” he says.

BUTWHAT’S the point in killing and driving a people out, merely to nudge the percentage of Hindus from near 95 percent to 100 percent? Dr Krishan Kumar, the young District Magistrate of Kandhamal, thinks it’s actually about jobs, land, and only then religion. Kumar has studied medicine (hence the Dr prefix), and was given overnight charge of Kandhamal when the Hindu militants began attacking the Christians. Read

What happened to the India of our dreams?

Cry, my Beloved Country!

Aijaz Zaka Syed (VIEW FROM DUBAI)

4 September 2008

Until recently, many of my Pakistani friends would envy the pluralism and the culture of genuine tolerance in the world’s largest democracy, attributing it to its democratic ethos.  This general worldview of India did not change even after the demolition of Babri mosque (1992) and Gujarat (2002).

The extremist Hindu organisations like RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal have been concerned by the massive proselytizing by Christian missionaries in the tribal areas of Orissa.  The missionaries have been doing some excellent social work, running schools, clinics and orphanages in interior Orissa where even government officials avoid going.  As a result, low caste Hindus and tribal groups, exploited for thousands of years, have been joining Christ’s flock in thousands every year.

The current wave of violence was sparked by the killing of a leader from the VHP, the militant Hindu organisation that was in the forefront of the Ayodhya mosque demolition and subsequent anti-Muslim riots.

Religious violence is hardly new to Orissa.  In 1999, an Australian missionary Graham Steins who had been working in the state for three decades treating lepers in remote tribal areas, was burnt alive with his two sons as they slept in their jeep.  The children had been visiting their father from Australia.     And the self same demons have come back to haunt Orissa today unleashing a reign of terror across the region where Emperor Ashoka gave up violence to promote Buddha’s message of peace.

And all that the state government and the federal government in Delhi have done so far is pass the buck to each other. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has rightly called the attacks a “national shame,” just as PM Vajpayee had done in the case of Gujarat in 2002 where his own party was in power and his protégé presided over the carnage.

But is that enough? Is it not the responsibility of governments to protect their people, especially the vulnerable among them?  The Orissa government finds itself helpless in dealing with the murderers and arsonists because they are led by the men who are part of the coalition in the state.  The government in Delhi is busy settling political scores with the Orissa government.  Instead of taking action to stop the carnage, the federal government has suggested a probe by the CBI -– India’s answer to FBI -– into attacks.  

Remarkably, the authorities that look the other way while the mobs ransack Orissa, hunting and killing helpless men and women like some cornered animals, have been extraordinarily efficient in dealing with the ‘Muslim terrorists.’

From the plains of the North India to the Malabar coast down south, hundreds of young Muslims have been swallowed up by India’s jails as the terrorists and ISI agents.   Although there has always been the ominous cloud of ISI and Pakistan hanging over Indian Muslims -- especially if they looked like Muslims – the extent of persecution of Muslims under the secular and liberal UPA government is truly shocking.

Even though one has been reading and hearing about the harassment of Muslims in Indian press from time to time, the big picture revealed by the Tehelka magazine (www.tehelka.com) and the recent open, people’s courts held by human rights groups in Hyderabad is incredibly horrifying. I can’t believe this is happening in my own country.  From fake encounters to torture to old fashioned terror tactics, the world’s biggest religious minority today faces the kind of terror that it did not experience even under the long British rule. Today, the Muslims have become enemies of the state in their own land.

The then BJP-NDA government started the witch-hunt of the Muslims by banning the SIMI (Students Islamic Movement of India) in September 2001 -- days after the 9/11 events in the US.    Not only the offices of the obscure outfit hopelessly dreaming of Muslim glory were shut and sealed but hundreds of innocents from across the country were also thrown behind bars in the name of fighting terror.

  Is this Gandhi’s India? Whatever happened to the India of our dreams, the champion of non-violence and tolerance? And where’s this country headed? I do not know. But I fear and cry for my country.

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