R.C. Chiten Jamir
The choice for the people of India is either secular India or theocratic India. There is no other option. We the people of India have chosen to live as one nation, as one people and as one country in a democratic, socialist and secular country. Only such a system would contain the size of India, its multiplicities of national, racial, ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic communities.
It appears now that the last days of a secular India are looming around the door. The most and ever aggressive forces of the theocratic Ram Rashtriya are gaining ground to usher in an era of theocracy. It will throw open the options for the ‘other’ religious communities to find a way of survival. Even the mighty and powerful USSR had to succumb to the desperate needs of the political socio-economic survival of the constituent units. Several independent and sovereign countries and nations sprang up as of necessity. If India cannot contain its constituents in a secular structure, then an alternative option will be sought for by the ‘other’ non pure, non citizens millions for their survival. What was the stone that was not cut by hands that hit the great image of Nebuchadnezzar and broke it into pieces, the ban on conversion by the Christians shall be to the secular structure of India.
Robert Eric Frykenberg has rightly said, “If anything can destroy the unity of India, as so painfully constructed under the current constitution of India, Hindutva is its name.” The so called freedom of Religious Bills/Acts which are made by the BJP ruled states, are the signs on the wall for the Christians, other religious ministries and the secular India as much. Obviously, the religious minorities will be wiped out; the Christians are number 1 on the agenda of the Hindutva of which the BJP is the political force spearheading it.
The hard core of the hindutva or the Hindu fundamentalists are the militant Hindu terrorists. They are the Hindu Maha Sabha of savarkar, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of Hedgeswar, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena. These are all come together under the Dharma Sansad. These forces want to establish a realm and rule of Ram Rajiya. All these have come now within the Sang Parivar. These fundamentalist forces are extremely religious, atrociously nationalistic and politically theoretic. Their political ideology is to make India a theoretic state. To do that, the Hindu fundamentalists and the revivalists are determined to uproot the Christian religion, next will be the other religious minorities. The Hindutva forces are opposed to conversion to Christianity and for that they want a police state. They alleged that the conversion is made by force and fraud. Arn Shourie has written against the Christians that the Christian’s only agenda nationally and internationally is ‘conversion’ that their love for the poor and social service is simply to convert others to Christianity.
The BJP’s spearheading the hate campaign against the Christians has no frontiers; the harassments, the tortures, the killings, burning of churches, raping of Christian girls and women by the Hindutva are inconceivable. They do this under the pretext that the Christians are converting the Hindus by force and fraud. But the fact is, they could not bring up a single case till this day of conversion by force or fraud convicted by a court of law. They have made anti-conversion laws-Freedom of Religion Bills/Acts which are in force for more than 80 years in the state like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Arunachal and recently in Chattisgarh, Jharkand, Gujarat and now in Rajasthan, but they could prove a single case of conversion by force or fraud. It is like the story of a tiger accusing a goat of making the water of a river unclean. “Hi why are you making the water unclean?” Incidentlly, the tiger was upstream and the goat was down stream. The intention of the tiger was to kill the goat anyhow. This is what the Hindutva wants to do as envisaged by the diabolical design of the BJP. The exclusive target is the Christian religion. The Christians are to bear the brunt of the atrocious and severe repressions in the hands of the Hindutva forces.
“The Sangh Parivar demands that the minorities must surrender even their normal rights as citizen; the non-Hindu people in Hindustan must adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence to Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture….. They must cease to be foreigners or may stay in the country wholly subordinate to the Hindu nation, claiming, deserving no privileges, far be any preferential treatment, not even citizen’s right”-Golwalker. This is the ideology of the Hindutva forces. This force is incomparable with the Indian secular nationalism and democratic polity. This ideology is derogatory to Indian nationalism; it is against the integrity and the unity of India. Under the diabolic designs of the BJP, the Hindutva forces have already undermined the secular, democratic, pluralistic foundations of the Indian republic. They consistently are subverting the unity of India, the constitution of India and India’s interests. They want to do away with India’s democracy, socialism and secularism. Shall the other non-Hindutva who are not Indian citizens according to Hindutva, take it, lie down and allow the Hindutva fanatics to destroy the unity and integrity of India?
The Naga churches and Naga Christians seem to remain unconcerned. But they are in the midst of it. The gigantic Indian Goliath is too big, too frightening and frightful, is it? Let us remember what Jesus Christ said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will built my ‘church’, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. “All power is given unto me in heaven and earth”-Mathew 28:18. Jesus Christ is the Lord, He is the head of the church, nothing shall prevail against Him. Christianity takes orders from Him.
The Christians in India as also the Hindutva people know that India is a democratic, socialistic and secularistic country. The Indian constitution guarantees the freedom of religion to all persons, the freedom of conscience, the right and the freedom to profess, practice and propagates religion in Article 25 of the constitution. This article gives the absolute right to do so. This is the freedom of religion as enshrined in article 25 of the constitution. Since the freedom of Religion Bills/Acts which are envisaged by the BJP governments violates the fundamental rights all the laws they are making ultravires of the constitution. Both the convert and the seekers to convert have the right to choose the faith he/she wants is guaranteed by article 25.
The militant Hindu fundamentalists struggle is against the so called devils of aliens and polluting communities, the call, ‘the other’-meaning the Christianity, Islam, secularism etc. The Hindutva forces will offensively, aggressively and determinedly confront the other forces. Within a common ideology-the RSS, VHP, BJP are now coming nearer as never before to achieve the ultimate goal of seizure of power for a Ram Rajya! The BJP government headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee totally saffronized all knowledge so as to make all facts in school text books conform to the Hindutva agenda. The political leaders of the secular parties are aware that the Hindutva forces constitute a mortal danger to India’s integrity and unity. But they seems to be fiddling with their own political survival though right at their nose, the constitution of India and the country’s unity are being violated and dismantled wantonly. The constitution of India is no longer a positive participation and involvement of all the communities. During the short period of the BJP rule at the centre, the BJP ruled state overtly or covertly allowed destruction, organized riots, massacre and slaughter of ‘the other communities’. They carefully, deliberately and cunningly devised violence and killings at Godhra orchestrated against the ‘other’ can never be taken as a thing of the past. The Hindutva forces are gnashing their teeth anxiously waiting for a chance to bite the ‘other’. Obviously, the forces of the Hindutva fundamentalism within the Sangh Parivar, Dharma Sansad and the BJP have cowed down the secular forces. Is the unity and integrity of India vulnerable?
Hundreds of millions of real aboriginal Indians of different nationalities, races, ethnic entities, religious communities, multi-cultural, linguistic identities, who are regarded as foreigner, as ‘other’ not being Hindutva; and if, as set out by MS Golwalker, The sarsang Chalak, ideologue and high priests of the RSS has vision of India that, “the foreign races of Hindustan (meaning the Christians and the Muslims) must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must ….not even citizens rights, we ought to deal as with foreign races who have chosen to live in our country”- this is the ideologue source of Hindutva think tank. This ideologue has driven the ‘other’ non-Hindutva to extremists; they have to find alternatives for their survival. The secular forces seem to be dormant and the religious minorities are restless and frustrated.
The country is besieged by the evil forces of the Hindu fundamentalists who are out to destroy the multi racial, national, cultural lingual, ethnical fabric of the Indian society that is knitted together with secularism. This diabolical adventure ventured by the Hindutva, God forbid. India must survive the onslaught of the militant Hindutva.
R.C. Chiten Jamir
