Narendra Modi breaks his silence on violence against Christians

Great Speech, Mr. Modi, but is the Sangh Parivar listening?

JOHN DAYAL

A section of the Indian Catholic Church invited him to a function to celebrate the canonization of two Catholic Saints born in Kerala. We would be ingrates if we did not therefore thank the Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi, for speaking up at last on hate crimes, as we had been urging him to do for the past six months, and specially as we requested him to do when a delegation met him at his residence on Christmas eve last. He was not exactly very warm at that meeting, blaming the Christian community of [exaggerating] minor incidents in the international media, even insinuating their “compulsions’ prevented them from standing with him on his development agenda.

He has made this statement now, at a time of his choosing, and in many ways, at an audience of his choosing. There was no occasion for questions, no opportunities to request him to explain some ambiguities in his address, deliberate it would seem, and a few omissions. A major omission is  any reference to the 60 year old issue of Dalit Chrisians and their demands for parity in Scheduled Caste rights with Sikhs and Buddhists [and of course Hindus] of Dalit origin.

But his statement now is a change from what he had said then, after first ordering the cameras to be switched off. I would like to hope he wants it to address the Trust Deficit of religious minorities – not just Christians -- in his Bharatiya Janata Party and the Sangh Parivar, now certainly quite the mainstream of political discourse with its religious nationalism, which claims to have brought it to power. In many ways, however, it is addressed to an international audience, and specially the investing bankers and corporate giants, whose concern at the Human Rights and Freedom of Faith issues in India – which ranks as a Country of Concern in many international lists – was articulated by United States President Mr. Barack Obama as much as by the Editorial in the New York Times.  Mr. Modi’s development agenda depends on massive infusions of western capital.

It will be of abiding intellectual speculation why Mr. Modi did not chose to make his statement at public meeting of the Muslim Ulema.  Muslims outnumber Christians in India by a factor of five. That may have been more affective in repairing the damage done to his image by the 2002 Gujarat riots and the recent abuse on Muslims by popular BJP leaders in the party’s electoral campaigns and public programmes. But perhaps it may not have helped him in the context of the current wave of Islamaphobia in parts of the Western world and its media.

Freedom of Faith is a part of the Indian Civilisation, of that there can be no doubt. Buddha and Mahavira’s rejection of Vedic hegemony is a part of that intellectual and expressional freedom. And the birth, much later, of the Sikh faith. The incorporation of freedom of faith and expression in the Constitution of India was also a consequence of the Freedom Struggle that saw the participation of all ethnic, linguistic and religious communities in the cause of Independence, equality and justice.  India is also a signatory to the United Nations Charter and its Declarations on Freedom of Faith and on Civil Liberties, stressed once again in the documents of the Hague convention which was called to celebrate them. As Prime Minister, he and his government have taken an oath to protect the Constitution, and all that it guarantees to citizens of India, and in fact, to even others who may be resident in this land.

There has been much tragedy and human suffering because the Constitutional guarantees have not been fully practiced. And because some political groups with  an ideology of religious nationalism and peculiar definition of patriotism have enjoyed immunity and government patronage, and protection.

We are happy that Mr. Modi did not call for a "ten-year moratorium" as he had in his speech on Independence Day last year, but said "We cannot accept violence against any religion on any pretext and I strongly condemn such violence. My government will act strongly in this regard." The talk of moratorium had not gone down well with civil society, and had seemed very cynical.

The minorities have not been attacking anyone. Neither have they exceeded, or violated, the limits set by the law of the land in their exercise of their rights to profess, practice and propagate their faith. Mr. Modi nonetheless brushed over this, warning against both minority and majority intolerance. This attempt at parity has its own meaning, and implications in small towns and villages where police seem to believe it is the Muslim, or the Christian, who is the cause of all troubles.

Despite the existence of laws against religious conversions, called Freedom of Religion Acts, in six states – and with his government ministers demanding such a law for the entire country -- even politically hostile governments have not been able to indict anyone for inducing anyone to become a Christian through force or through fraudulent means. Mr. Modi yet chose to allude to “fraud”. It was clear where his mind lay. He did not refer to the issue of Dalit Christians, raised by Bishops who spoke before him at the function. His party and his government are opposed to restoring Dalit Christians rights given to others of these castes, arguing this would open the floodgates of conversions out of Hinduism.

One cannot but welcome any direction from government that anticipates and prevents targetted religious violence and hate.  This actually needs a comprehensive law. The BJP has consistently opposed such a law, which Congress governments half-heartedly tried to bring in the last two Parliaments. But even in the absence of such a law, there are provisions regulations that can be substantially used by the governments in the States to control hate campaigns, coercion and violence. It remains to be seen if state governments and their police forces will act against hate crimes and hate mongers.

And the future will tell if groups professing religious nationalism have heard Mr. Modi as the Christian leader has heard him. TV debates suggest the Sangh Parivar has not heard him. Or perhaps they think the Prime Minister does not mean what he says.