The infamous Louis Berger episode and the final verdict by the Supreme Court in the Uphaar fire tragedy in New Delhi have brought forth not only the justice system but also religious beliefs and people’s faith in God and about divine interventions.
While in the world today, when we have accepted the theory of evolution by Charles Darwin and the principles of relativity by Albert Einstein, wherein we now understand that time and space have limitless boundaries, the concept of heaven exclusively for the good or hell meant only for the bad recedes.
For the past few weeks we have again come to remember of the Uphaar tragedy, with the mother of the two children who were charred to death in New Delhi. The woman asserted firmly over television channels that 18 years ago she had lost faith in God, and has now lost faith in the judicial process too, since the owners of the Uphaar theatre were not jailed but let off with a fine. Similarly in Goa the special public prosecutor Rajeev Gomes found the judgement of jailing Churchill Alemao and allowing Digambar Kamat free by the special court judge in the exactly similar case quite amusing and perplexing.
Then came Kamat’s proclamation that so long God is on his side, nothing ever would happen to him. Is it that his God is more powerful than the God of Gomes, Alemao, Wachasundar and all the others, who collaborated that Kamat was an active party to this crime?
It is amusing to believe that an universe, which was formed 14.3 billion years ago, with millions of galaxies with trillions of stars, which are often dying and also freshly forming, every day, has a Creator, who favours one accused in a crime and is blind to the plea of others, who are equally innocent or guilty.
In the world of today concept of God is manipulated by the rich and the powerful. It is made out that discrimination, exploitation and sufferings are the creation of the “all knowing Almighty”. In earlier times, when the concept of God was formulated, it was the victorious and the winners, who humbly attributed their achievements to God. In the world of today the concept of God and all that is done in the name of God is bad or evil.
Terrorism in the name of God is the reality in the world of today. If we philosophically analyze the evolution of today’s society, we soon realize, that the ill-gotten wealth is shared by the corrupt with their obliging God, thus making religious institutions stingingly rich whilst the hungry poor die of starvation, with a faint hope that better life would beseech them in the imaginary next world or heaven.
In the past, King Ashoka, won the Kalinga war, killed thousands of people and repented by shunning war altogether and imbibing spirituality and service of the people. But today all those, who kill, cheat, oppress and exploit tend to donate or share their spoils in religious institutions and make believe that in the world of today one can make God the partner of crime, so much so that it is an established fact that money is God.
The rock and roll between priests and politicians and the wealthy is a common sight. Is it not a fact that corrupt politician sit in the front row of churches, temples, mosques, etc or in prominent areas afforded to them by the clergy?
How exactly the Louis Berger case would fan out over the next two decades, due to the slow pace of work in our justice system, is yet another story. Which God would support whom and which Almighty would neglect or ignore the other, generally would follow the principles of manipulation, spiced with all the sins of omission and commission.
There is everything earthly about it, and nothing divine. To be fair to Kamat, as chief minister, he saw no evil in others, or willfully harmed or harassed using his political clout. Kamat’s mobile phone was always on for the people. Having many friends and restricting his number of enemies, has paid Kamat in the long run. The Robin Hood attitude which leads to exploitation and greed, has been a downfall to many a Goan politician. You can fool some people all the time but not all people at all times. Alemao and the others languishing long in jails must understand the realities of today.
As we gather today that science and religion are not miscible, we must also realize that religion and politics of manipulation would only degrade and degenerate our society further on. The government or individual donations to religion places be it Mecca, Shiridi, Vailankinni etc, using public money, breeds a false sense of value. Build institutions at the cost of people’s sweat not out of ill-gotten easy money given by the rich and powerful. There is a thin line between good and bad too. It is knowledge alone, when rightly used that can usher development in holistic and sustainable manner, which equally benefits all and shuns discrimination. We must all forget that there is a better world after death. Heaven and hell are over here, and in our minds.
(The writer is a retired Goa University Professor and Environment Activist)
