Alwyn M. D’Sa
Once again the US body has highlighted the religious persecutions and discrimination in India in its report. This has been vehemently rejected by the Indian government giving statements like: “India is a vibrant pluralistic society founded on strong democratic principles. The Indian Constitution guarantees fundamental rights to all its citizens, including the right to freedom of religion. We take no cognizance of their report”. All these attributes are absolutely right as the Constitution per se guarantees all these freedoms to individuals of every religion, but how far are they implemented is the issue here.
Almost every week in states like Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, MP, etc. we hear of attacks on mainly Christian religious institutions, the burning of prayer houses and Bibles and no action being taken by the local police, in many cases the police refusing to file an FIR, even turning the tables and making victims the criminals with false allegations.
Christian community being miniscule and generally being pacifist, the communalized mobs take advantage by threatening this small community knowing very well that the law is on their side. The non-Hindu minorities here, apparently are recent converts who probably have converted on their volition, not out of any compulsion or inducement, as it is made out to be.
In a recent case a church was vandalised by Hindu fundamentalists during a prayer meeting. Activists wearing bhagwa (saffron) head bands, were forcing Christians to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’; then they held a knife on the pastor’s neck, burnt down the prayer house and doused the pastor and his 7 month pregnant wife with petrol.
In a Chattisgarh village 37 tribal Christians fled their homes as they were beaten up and their houses destroyed by mobs for not giving up their Christian faith. There are some villages in North India which have completely banned Christianity in their villages through resolutions in the Gram Sabhas. There are other means used by the fundamentalists by banning the Christian community from using Community wells, forcing Hindu goddess pictures in their institutions and ostracizing them in other ways. If this is not persecution what is?
Between January and April 2016 there have been 49 reported incidents -14 in April alone – in Chhattisgarh, ruled by the BJP. Over the same period there have been 116 in total in central India, although these include women tortured by their husbands for their faith, other beatings of pastors, and a case of villagers not allowing a Christian to be buried. Is this a Secular Democracy we are living in or in some fascist, theocratic Nation?
Religion to follow or not to follow is a person’s prerogative and there can be no compulsion in religious matters as it is ones relationship with the Almighty or none at all.
We are past the middle ages and we need to shed our narrow mindedness and hatred, specifically the RSS, Bajrang Dal, Ram Sene and the like and sow peace, love and understanding among the masses if we are to prosper as a nation. All these tall orders and claims of ‘Make in India’, ‘India has a great culture’, and so on will carry no weight unless we shed our prejudices and live harmoniously and in an all-inclusive secular setup.
