Author: Ram Madhav
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: January 8, 2008
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jan/08guest.htm
For days, one TV Channel ran visuals of how
Christians have been targeted for violence in Orissa's Kandhamal district.
Several other so-called national channels too joined the chorus sufficient
enough for Mombattiwalas (candlelight activists) to plunge into the ring and
declare that 'entire Orissa', if not 'entire India', is in the grip of violence
unleashed against 'innocent minorities' by 'Hindu nationalists'.
As a senior leader pointed out to me after
a heated TV debate, we have created a funny nomenclature in our country: if
you are a Hindu and defend your faith, you are a 'Hindu nationalist' a pejorative
reminiscent of Nazi Nationalism. But if you are a Hindu and use your lung
power to loudly attack Hinduism and Hindus for crimes they never committed,
then you are a great 'secularist'. Both these stereotypes are a creation of
our perverted political discourse.
Thus every incident of the nature of the Kandhamal
one will immediately be dragged into this Hindu Nationalist Secularist arena
and the endless blame-game continues.
We don't realise that in the process we are
not only destroying the image of our nation but actually perpetrating such
violence by not looking dispassionately into the real reasons behind each
and every single incident.
Violence in the name of religion in any form
should be opposed by all. It is unfortunate that we had to end 2007 with one
such violent situation in a district of Orissa. But we must not ignore the
fact that Kandhamal is for that matter many such incidents have been a localised
incident; not a phenomenon as the Candlelight-walas would want us to believe.
It is neither pan-Orissa nor pan-Indian.
The trouble in Kandhamal started on December
23 when some Christians at Brahmanigoan village wanted to erect a Christmas
gate in front of a Hindu place of worship. This was resented by the local
Hindus who questioned the motive of the Christians in insisting on building
a second gate near a Hindu place of worship while one gate was already erected
at a place where it is done every year on the eve of Christmas. This led to
the initial clashes. Since Christians were more in number in the said village
the Hindus were at the receiving end.
As the news of clashes reached Swami Laxmanananda
Saraswati, a selfless Hindu seer working for the socio-economic development
of the local people for over four decades -- he set out for Brahmanigoan on
December 24. His car was attacked by a violent Christian mob in which the
seer himself and two of his followers sustained serious injuries.
Swamiji, 82 years old, has been relentlessly
working for the uplift of the people in the district -- more than 75 per cent
of whom are below the poverty line and illiterate -- since 1967. He has opened
schools and hostels, hospitals and temples to serve mainly the tribals and
the down-trodden.
It was this attack that led to further clashes
in the district, as the seer is highly respected and has innumerable supporters
in the district. Four days of clashes resulted in both sides suffering in
various ways -- many houses were burnt, properties destroyed and physical
attacks taking place.
What made things worse in Kandhamal was the
open collaboration between the Christian groups and Naxals. Among those arrested
in connection with the burning down of villages inhabited by Hindus (Brahmanigaon,
Jhinjiriguda, Katingia, and Godapur) were 47 Maoists. Some 20 guns have been
recovered by the security forces from them.
The Kandhamal violence is essentially a localised
one, as many such incidents in the country have been. It is the local factors
that play a predominant role. Animosities were brewing no doubt. But again
the reasons were immediate. There has been a feud between the Kondh tribals
and largely Christian Pana Scheduled Caste people. The Panas, under the leadership
of the local Congress Rajya Sabha member Radhakanta Naik, who is said to be
a convert, have been demanding inclusion of their caste in the Scheduled Tribe
category as they too speak the same Kui language that the ST Kondhs speak.
This argument was rejected by the state government as well as by the courts.
But the agitation in favour of the demand continues under Naik's leadership,
fuelling resentment among the Kondhs who remained largely unaffected by conversion
activity of the Christian missionaries.
However, if there is any one aspect that is
pan-Indian in all the incidents related to Hindu-Christian clashes it is religious
conversions. Even in Kandhamal district, one of the major factors fuelling
tensions is the conversion campaign of the evangelical groups. It is noteworthy
that in a state like Orissa which enacted anti-conversion laws as back as
in 1967, the Christian population in Kandhamal district alone has grown from
6 per cent in 1970 to 27 per cent in 2001.
The 'aggression' shown by the new age evangelical
groups mostly in predominantly tribal areas in states like Orissa, Madhya
Pradesh, Jharkhand, Gujarat etc has become a major contributor of religious
strife. We can't overlook the fact that in the entire country Christmas was
celebrated with a lot of gaiety with millions -- a lot of Hindus included
-- thronging churches. Hindus, at the core of their belief, are 'omnitheists'.
For a Christian or a Muslim there is 'one god', but for a Hindu there is 'only
god'. For him god is omnipresent, the entire creation is divine manifestation
only.
Religious conversion is an anti-thesis to
this belief. There was a time when at the end of the British Raj the mainstream
missionaries in India had decided to focus more on humanitarian and developmental
activity than conversions. Many still adhere to that concept, confining themselves
to running schools, hospitals etc and serving humanity at the time of need.
However, for the growing breed of 'aggressive'
evangelicals, numbers are very important. 'Harvesting souls' is god's work
for them. Means don't matter. In a very interesting article in Christian Science
Monitor (April 1, 2005) Ajai Sahni, executive director of the Institute of
Conflict Management in New Delhi and a renowned intellectual was quoted as
saying: 'Aggressive and unprincipled missionary work that exploits the distress
and ignorance of marginalised groups ... can constitute a catalyst to localised
violence, particularly when they are brought into confrontation with other
creeds'.
These 'aggressive' activities of their fellow
pastors and fathers have aggrieved many Christian leaders too. This is what
the Christian Science Monitor article says on those activities:
After the tsunami, the US National Council
of Churches issued a statement warning against the practice by "New Missionaries"
of mixing evangelism and aid. "Often lacking sophistication about the
lure of gifts and money, and wanting to be generous with their resources,
they easily fall prey to the charge of using unethical means to evangelize.
This creates a backlash," the February statement read.
"You get this guy out of Texas who has
no idea of the local culture, he is out to win souls, and he comes with a
lot of money," says Bob Alter, former Presbyterian pastor born and raised
in the Indian mountain town of Mussoorie, and former superintendent of a missionary
institution, the Woodstock School.
The problem with these newer churches, Mr.
Alter says, is the tone of their message. "You have Baptists using the
Diwali festival [the Hindu festival of lights], but they come to 'spread the
light to those in darkness.' That is mighty offensive stuff, when you're out
to tear down another religion."
It even quoted one Bishop Chacko, head of
the Roman Catholic diocese in Meghnagar in Jhabua district in Madhya Pradesh
who said, 'Even the older Protestant churches are unhappy with the evangelicals.
It is said that they are irresponsible. Consequences don't matter to them.
They put the fire and then they leave it to burn.'
Whether it is Kandhamal in Orissa or Jhabua
in Madhya Pradesh or Dangs in Gujarat, the only pan-Indian question is the
evangelical activities of 'aggressive conversion campaign'.
If we argue that conversion is a right, then
re-conversion too is a right. In this melee of conversions and re-conversions
violence and strife will become the order of the day.
Let every religion enjoy complete religious
freedom to preach, practice and propagate. But as our apex court categorically
stated, 'Propagate' does not and should not include 'Conversion'. Let us put
an end to the institutionalised activity of conversions by church agents and
instead allow citizens freedom of personal choice without fear or favour.
- Ram Madhav is a former spokesperson for
the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh