People & Their Problems

New Delhi, 21 January 2010

Religious Intolerance

PRAY, LET’S EDUCATE MASSES

By Dhurjati Mukherjee

The Pew Research Center, a US think tank, has marked India as the world’s second worst country when it comes to hostile acts faced by religious groups but has appreciated that outfits and not government policy is to blame. The Pew study comes a few months after the US Commission on International Religious Freedom placed India on its watch list for the first time, citing 2002 Gujarat riots and the attacks on Christians in Orissa’s Kandhamal in 2008. These revelations are indeed distressing for a country which is generally regarded as secular with multi-religious groups operating with freedom.

Though the study titled ‘Global Restrictions & Religion’ found India politically progressive (ranking it 40 out of 198 nations), it classified the country as socially regressive and cited Gujarat and Orissa to rank 197 – one rank above Iraq – in the ‘Social Hostilities Index’. Even countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, where religious freedom is extremely limited fare better in this category.

Among the world’s 25 most populous countries – Iran, Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and India – stand out as having the most restrictions when both measures are taken into account, while Brazil, Japan, the United States, Italy, South Africa and the UK have the least, stated the report. It added that many of the restrictions in India, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia and Bangladesh are “driven by groups pressing for the enshrinement of their interpretation of the majority faith, including Shariah law in Muslim societies and Hindutva movement in India which seeks to define India as a Hindu nation”.

The culture of intolerance has pervaded our society where each religion believes in the extremist and hierarchical god which alone is considered the true god while others are false. The superiority of a particular religion’s god is emphasized and there is a tendency to impose this on others through conversions, some of which are forced. Like a political party, religious believers want to increase their ranks and this has resulted in conflicts and strife. The problem gets accentuated when religious leaders are aided by politicians, who manage to get state patronage in order to subjugate other religious communities.

There is a section of opinion that strict adherence to secular credentials is the answer to combat this religious acrimony and intolerance. It may be mentioned in this context that the US is secular but that has not prevented it from polarizing global politics on religious lines. Its geopolitics has been responsible for the global spread of a virulent version of Islam because of its own history of support to many authoritarian regimes and movements in the Islamic world such as Taliban.

However in India, the case is somewhat different where more or less communal harmony existed over the years. The incidents cited in the Pew study are obviously the work of one particular religious group aided by a political party that caused the Gujarat episode. About Orissa, one has to admit that Christians have been converting people in the country over the years. The conversions, mainly of tribals and the lower castes, no doubt assured the converts food and education but also gave them social status. However, this was violently resisted by a Hindu fundamentalist group which thought that Christians were buying charity and wanted to put an end to this.

History is witness to the fact that religion and politics by themselves do not make a lethal mix as do politics and violence, especially when religious leaders are willing to lend a helping hand to politicians in mobilizing people around religious lines. The religious sentiment which has over the years made people tolerant, sympathetic and disciplined has now turned a section of people aggressive, jealous and intolerant.

Clearly, there is need to investigate the socio-political reasons for this, especially with regard to this country. Whatever may be the Pew study, India has by far been a much more tolerant country than most of her neighbours. Moreover, religious freedom of minorities in the country is far better than in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Bangladesh. The torture suffered by Hindus in these three countries, the role of Islamic militants in destabilizing this country and the aggressive role of Christian missionaries to convert – even the Pope declaring that conversions have to be pursued – have no doubt put pressure on the Hindu psyche with a section wanting to take revenge. This attitude cannot be supported but realistically speaking cannot be ignored either as the urge is basic to human nature.          

Importantly, the cohesiveness of the society needs to be protected at this juncture and the religious bond that has played a vital role over the years needs to be strengthened. How this will be done keeping in view the aggressive attitude of most religious groups, sometimes with direct or indirect political backing, is the moot question of the day.    

The teachings of the scriptures need to be popularized to enhance inter-religious understanding. The major religion of the country, Hinduism, has been defined by many as a forum to accommodate different faiths rather than being a close sect. The conceptual and philosophical framework of Hinduism enshrined in three treatises – the Brahmasutras, Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita – have advocated equal adoration of all varieties of divinity and paths towards god and the recognition of the right to salvation of all living beings.  Moreover, Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and in recent times, Dr Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, have all emphasized the need for peaceful coexistence and mutual respect and understanding of different faiths. It is necessary that awareness be generated in this regard by different institutions of these teachings for development of social cohesiveness and communal harmony in life and society.

While awareness generation is necessary all over the country, it is also imperative that development objectives of the poor and depressed sections of society be geared up along with the spread of education. It would be pertinent to mention that there should be one or two periods per week on religious understanding from Class V onwards so that students learn about the basic tenets of different religions. Similarly, colleges could invite guest speakers to talk about inter religious understanding.

Material desires and the craving for more has been generating jealousy and animosity among the community. The limit to one’s wants cannot be allowed to grow as this will further increase the widening disparity between the rich and the poor. Religious discourses would help to educate people to be selfless, think and work for the poor and be disciplined in one’s life. Additionally, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have a vital role to play in generating awareness to remote areas of the country and strengthening the bonds of friendship and goodwill among people of different faiths. Indeed, it is time to make a beginning. ---INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)