Every day we hear stories woven around religion doing the rounds on social media and on popular media as well. The “Ghar Wapasi” programme spearheaded by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh asking Christians and other converts to return to the Hindu fold will have catastrophic results even as Christian minorities become more belligerent in defence of their religion. Christians make up only two per cent of the population of India but there are now figures being circulated by the Hindutva fringe that the numbers have gone up to 10 per cent. We wonder how these unofficial numbers have been crunched, by whom and for what purpose.

US President Barack Obama&’s parting shot about India steering clear of religious strife, as he left for Saudi Arabia, should send a strong message to Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister of this country and to his government and, of course, the Hindutva brigade that claims to have been instrumental in getting him elected. That a visiting President should even dwell on the topic of religious freedom and for him to point to the history of communal disharmony as being one of the reasons for India&’s impending implosion should leave no one in doubt that Obama has not forgotten Godhra and the Gujrat pogrom of 2002. 

India is too diverse a country to even begin thinking about commonalities. We are a country of different races and religious persuasions. Why can’t we allow religion to remain in the private sphere instead of turning it into a corporate zealous exercise? Why should a person&’s faith have anything to do with his/her performance as a citizen or as a representative of his/her people? Why should religion become the talking point, so much so that the NDA government is left fumbling in trying to explain its way to BJP baiters? The latest controversy is about the words secularism and socialism being left out of the Rajya Sabha calendar. That the Congress has found this frivolous issue (since the two words were deliberately left out of the Constitution by our Founding Fathers) with which to beat the BJP in the Delhi elections is predictable. Again, Union law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had to explain himself and his government to the people of India. It is only in this country that so much time is wasted over pusillanimous issues such as these.

In India&’s North-east, where the population is largely Christian, there is a sense of nervousness that if the BJP were to come to power in the states then they would lose their religious freedom. In Nagaland, governor PB Acharya published a handout on religious lines depicting “Bharat Mata” standing on a “lotus” and holding the tricolour with the country&’s map in the background. Acharya is a former RSS man but he should have shed his partisan stance once he assumed governorship of a state. It is a different matter that the Congress Party of Nagaland raised this issue and that other social groups have yet to comment on the pamphlet. But it will not be long before the message percolates down to the common man/woman that the BJP is trying to water down the secular fabric of this country. Besides, actions like the above give ammunition to the Congress — now a beleaguered party looking for any piece of straw to keep itself above water.

When Prime Minister Modi assumed office there was much hope that he would push in development as an overriding agenda and keep the frontal wings of the BJP such as the RSS at bay. But disappointment is writ large in the minds of Indians who remain truly inclusive in their worldviews and who believe that a government is elected to govern and not waste time over religious mumbo-jumbo. The question every North-easterner asks today is why Modi chooses to remain silent when the Hindutva fascists, the sadhus and sadhvis make loud noises about the need to produce more children to counter the population of non-Hindus (and we know who they mean). The statement by an MP that non-Hindus are “haramzades” makse all of us cringe because we belong to that category of ingrates. Apologies for making such crude statements, even if they do come, sound too banal to make a difference! The hurt remains. 

Those who know Modi very closely say that he is a devotee of Swami Vivekananda. So what does the Swami have to say about religious toleration? At the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893, he made some excellent expositions. He said, “Sectarianism, bigotry and it&’s horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civiliszation and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honour of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.” 

I cannot think of a more enlightening statement from a wise soul and a saint that this country had the privilege to produce. Then why is it that we have now allowed god-men and women to interfere with the secular fabric of this country? 

About one-fifth of India&’s 1.27 billion people belong to faiths other than Hinduism. India has deliberately chosen to remain secular and therefore deviated from the path of its neighbour, Pakistan, which is a theocracy. We just have to look at Pakistan to see how religious fundamentalism is corroding that society and making it difficult for democracy to take root. The same is the case with Bangladesh, where religious radicalism is enmeshed with politics to turn the country into a battleground, not of ideas, but of who represents the more gritty idea of Islam. Bangladesh and Pakistan treat their minorities with disdain. But India is supposed to rise above all that because of its commitment to secularism. How then have we come to a point in our history when religion has become the weak link in the chain? An election held once in five years does not necessarily make a country a democracy. Pakistan and Bangladesh have regular elections but the two countries are battling religious fundamentalism rather unsuccessfully. 

It is said that Prime Minister Modi has warned his MPs to stop making controversial statements that embarrass his government and to focus on economic development. But he would have to do more than that to rein in the RSS. He has been able to sideline the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its loudmouth proponent, Praveen Togadia substantially. Now he will have to deal with Mohan Bhagwat and others who are trying to bask in the glory of the NDA victory. This country and its citizens need a break from such religious extremists. Let them pursue their agenda within the walls of their congregation and not get too cantankerous, for this country needs to focus on the creation of employment for its huge youth population who wish to have nothing to do with religion or proselytisation. They want their dal, roti, makaan and a better life.

  
 The author is Editor, The Shillong Times, and member, National Security Advisory Board.