ARTICLE OF THE MONTH

Association for Communal Harmony in Asia (ACHA)
www.asiapeace.org & www.indiapakistanpeace.org
4410 Verda Lane NE , Keizer , OR 97303

Article of the Month

MINORITIES & COMMUNAL HARMONY IN INDIA

Four Views from People Who Know
*Hindu fundamentals are under attack (in India), Shashi Tharoor, Times of India, 28 Sep 08
*Conversion business, Khushwant Singh, Deccan.com, October 4, 2008
*The Insider-II: No time to complain, time to be wise, Ishtiyaque Danish, 3 Oct 2008
*Deep inside India, secularism is a way of life, M J Akbar, 5 Oct 2008
__

*Hindu fundamentals are under attack (in India), Shashi Tharoor, Times of India, 28 Sep 08
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Columnists/S_Tharoor_Hindu_tenets_under_attack/articleshow/3535323.cms

There are basically two kinds of politics in our country: the politics of division and the politics of unity. The former is by far the more popular, as politicians seek to slice and dice the electorate into ever-smaller configurations of caste, language and religion, the better to appeal to such particularist identities in the quest for votes. But what has happened in recent weeks in Orissa, and then in parts of Karnataka, and that threatens to be unleashed again in tribal districts of Gujarat, is a new low in our political life. The attacks on Christian families, the vandalism of their places of worship, the destruction of homes and livelihoods, and the horrific rapes, mutilations and burning alive that have been reported, have nothing to do with religious beliefs - neither those of the victims nor of their attackers. They are instead part of a contemptible political project whose closest equivalent can in fact be found in the "Indian Mujahideen" bomb blasts in Delhi, Jaipur, and Ahmedabad, which were set to go off in hospitals, marketplaces and playgrounds. Both actions are anti-national; both aim to divide the country by polarising people along their religious identities; and both hope to profit politically from such polarisation.

We must not let either set of terrorists prevail.

The murderous mobs of Orissa sought to kill Christians and destroy their homes and places of worship, both to terrorise the people and to send the message 'you do not belong here'. What have we come to that a land that has been a haven of tolerance for religious minorities throughout its history should have sunk so low? India's is a civilisation that, over millennia, has offered refuge and, more important, religious and cultural freedom, to Jews, Parsis, Muslims and several varieties of Christians. Christianity arrived on Indian soil with St Thomas the Apostle ('Doubting Thomas'), who came to the Kerala coast some time before 52 AD and was welcomed on shore by a flute-playing Jewish girl. He made many converts, so there are Indians today whose ancestors were Christian well before any European discovered Christianity (and before the forebears of many of today's Hindu chauvinists were even conscious of themselves as Hindus). The India where the wail of the muezzin routinely blends with the chant of mantras at the temple, and where the tinkling of church bells accompanies the gurudwara's reading of verses from the Guru Granth Sahib, is an India of which we can all be proud. But there is also the India that pulled down the Babri Masjid, that conducted the pogrom in Gujarat and that now unleashes its hatred on the 2% of our population who are Christians.

As a believing Hindu, I am ashamed of what is being done by people claiming to be acting in the name of my faith. I have always prided myself on belonging to a religion of astonishing breadth and range of belief; a religion that acknowledges all ways of worshipping God as equally valid - indeed, the only major religion in the world that does not claim to be the only true religion. Hindu fundamentalism is a contradiction in terms, since Hinduism is a religion without fundamentals; there is no such thing as a Hindu heresy. How dare a bunch of goondas shrink the soaring majesty of the Vedas and the Upanishads to the petty bigotry of their brand of identity politics?

Why should any Hindu allow them to diminish Hinduism to the raucous self-glorification of the football hooligan, to take a religion of awe-inspiring tolerance and reduce it to a chauvinist rampage?

Hinduism, with its openness, its respect for variety, its acceptance of all other faiths, is one religion which has always been able to assert itself without threatening others. But this is not the Hindutva spewed in hate-filled diatribes by communal politicians. It is, instead, the Hinduism of Swami Vivekananda, who, at Chicago's World Parliament of Religions in 1893, articulated best the liberal humanism that lies at the heart of his (and my) creed. Vivekananda asserted that Hinduism stood for "both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true." He quoted a hymn: "As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee." Vivekananda's vision - summarised in the credo Sarva Dharma Sambhava - is, in fact, the kind of Hinduism practised by the vast majority of Hindus, whose instinctive acceptance of other faiths and forms of worship has long been the vital hallmark of Indianness.

Vivekananda made no distinction between the actions of Hindus as a people (the grant of asylum, for instance) and their actions as a religious community (tolerance of other faiths): for him, the distinction was irrelevant because Hinduism was as much a civilisation as a set of religious beliefs. "The Hindus have their faults," Vivekananda added, but "they are always for punishing their own bodies, and never for cutting the throats of their neighbours. If the Hindu fanatic burns himself on the pyre, he never lights the fire of Inquisition."

It is sad that this assertion of Vivekananda's is being contradicted in the streets by those who claim to be reviving his faith in his name. "The Hindu militant," Amartya Sen has observed, presents India as "a country of unquestioning idolaters, delirious fanatics, belligerent devotees, and religious murderers." To discriminate against another, to attack another, to kill another, to destroy another's place of worship, is not part of the Hindu dharma so magnificently preached by Vivekananda. Why are the voices of Hindu religious leaders not being raised in defence of these fundamentals of Hinduism?
*Conversion business, Khushwant Singh, Deccan.com, October 4, 2008 http://deccan.com/Columnists/Columnists.asp#Conversion%20business
Recent incidents of violence and vandalism against Christians and their churches deserve to be condemned unreservedly. They have blackened the fair face of Mother India and ruined the reputation of Hindus being the most religiously tolerant people in the world. At the same time, we must take a closer look at people who convert from one faith to another. To start with, let it be understood that these days there are no forced conversions anywhere in the world. India is no exception. Those who assert that the poor, innocent and ignorant of India are being forced to accept Christianity are blatant liars. A few, very few educated and well-to-do men and women convert to another faith when they do not find solace in the faith of their ancestors. Examples
are to be found in America and Europe of men and women of substance turning from Judaism and Christianity to Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam and Sikhism.
There are also men and women who convert to the faith of those they wish to marry. We have plenty of cases of Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Sikh inter-marriages. However, the largest number of converts come from communities discriminated against. The outstanding example was that of Dalit leader Bhimrao Ambedkar who led his Mahar community to embrace Buddhism because they were discriminated against by upper caste Hindus. This is also true of over 90 per cent of Indian Muslims whose ancestors being lower caste embraced Islam which gave them equal status. That gives lie to the often-repeated slander that Islam made converts by the sword.
An equally large number of people converted out of gratitude. They were neglected, ignorant and poor. When strangers came to look after them, opened schools and hospitals for them, taught them, healed them and helped them to stand on their own feet to hold their heads high, they felt grateful towards their benefactors. Most of them were Christian missionaries who worked in remote villages and brought hope to the lives of people who were deprived of hope.
To this day, Christian missionaries run the best schools, colleges and hospitals in our country. They are inexpensive and free of corruption. They get converts because of the sense of gratitude they generate. Can this be called forcible conversion? Why don¢t the great champions of Hinduism look within their hearts and find out why so many are disenchanted by their pretensions of piety? Let them first set their own houses in order, purge the caste system out of Hindu society and welcome with open arms all those who wish to join them. No one will then convert from Hinduism to another religion.
*The Insider-II: No time to complain, time to be wise, Ishtiyaque Danish, 3 Oct 2008 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/The_Insider-II_No_time_to_complain_time_to_be_wise/articleshow/3554056.cms

Ishtiyaque Danish, a former founder-member of SIMI who now teaches at Hamdard University, New Delhi, cites Hindu-Muslim ignorance of each other’s cultures as the main cause behind the feelings of mistrust.

Abdus Subhan Qureshi alias Tauqeer Bilal’s mother Zubeida Qureshi was punishing when she said, “Hang my son in front of me if guilty.” Soon after the Jamia Nagar encounter, accused Muhammad Saif’s father Shadab contacted a television channel to say, “If he is involved in such acts, I would prefer not to see his face and if he ever comes before me, I would shoot him down.” Harsh words from loving parents. But Zubeida and Shadab are confronted by the ‘reality’ of their sons possibly being terrorists. They will never have the luxury of living in peace or with honour. We can only imagine the intensity of their wounded feelings.

The parents’ eagerness to improve their image shows the mental agony of Indian Muslims who feel called upon to explain their position in the wake of terrorist attacks. It may be recalled that not too long ago, the Muslim community held rallies and seminars to condemn terrorism as un-Islamic. There is pressure on Muslims.

Moving to the bigger picture, ‘Incredible India’ has a tendency to become ‘dangerous’ at the slightest provocation, despite its strong social fabric. The biggest disease among Hindus and Muslims is a shared ignorance about one another’s religions and cultures.

There is no monolith India culturally, religiously or linguistically. Similarly, there is no monolith Muslim thinking. The community is as diverse as Indian society. In normal times, Indian Muslims do not behave as a pan-Indian community. But an issue like the Muslim personal law evokes a pan-Indian approach. At times Muslims feel under siege — post-Babri mosque demolition for instance or in the wake of terrorism. The Muslim response then is, naturally, monolithic and pan-Indian. The community is similar to any other social group. Muslims suffer, as do Hindus, from poverty and illiteracy. There is hardly anything that distinguishes the Muslim middle-class from its Hindu or Christian counterpart.

What cause damage are the sweeping generalisations. If the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is suspected in the recent blasts and is viewed as a terrorist organisation, nobody, Muslims included, should have any objection. The problem arises when SIMI’s alleged activities form the basis to assume that all Muslims support terrorism. Muslims are then seen as ‘the Other’.

The Sangh Parivar’s venomous anti-Muslim ideology and campaign are well-documented. The BJP practises politics of hate and exclusion. The Parivar’s purpose is communal polarisation. That said, it will be wrong of Muslims to believe the Sangh Parivar represents all Hindus.

There are many Hindus dead against its exclusionary politics. Most Muslims realise this. But, at times, Muslims do generalise. They view government or its institutions, the police for instance, as ‘the Other’. The police force’s track record during communal riots is not encouraging. Fake encounters have only contributed to the feeling that the police are biased against Muslims. The result is a huge trust deficit — the distrust was evident in Jamia Nagar.

The media must highlight examples of Hindu-Muslim cooperation: madrassas with Hindu teachers and students a case in point. Many Hindu NGOs work for the better of Muslims. They overcome obstacles with the assistance and cooperation of Muslim scholars.

A Hindu NGO in Haryana’s Mewat region asked me to address some Muslim notables. The NGO’s problem was that Muslim parents resisted the idea of wards being taught by non-Muslims. But their resistance evaporated when they were told that the Holy Companions had learnt from non-Muslims captured as prisoners during the Battle of Badr, Muhammad’s first armed clash with the Makkan infidels.

Indian Muslims are educationally backward, economically deprived and politically marginalised. They tend to focus on the wrongs done to them and rarely introspect. We complain that our religion is equated with terrorism. The other view is to blame ourselves for the inability to use the media to advantage.

Complaining will not work. We must develop capabilities to counter negative propaganda. To that end, Muslims are realising the importance of education. A section of the Muslim leadership is working hard towards this. There is a demand that government provide schools, instead of more police stations.

It is time for Muslims to be wise and not reactionary. We need to understand the new, emerging India. This is not being visionary. The point is that even a madrassa education can be of help. One only has to look at successful madrassa graduates, especially those from Falah, Islah, Nadwa and Deoband, to see how they moved on to modern universities and secured jobs.

The government is no longer the sole creator and provider of jobs. The private sector has thrown up opportunities like never before. Here the scope for discrimination and biases is minimal. When an India of opportunities seems to be round the corner, it is futile for educated Muslim youth to indulge in mindless violence and miss the bus of progress and development.

*Deep inside India, secularism is a way of life, M J Akbar, 5 Oct 2008 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Sunday_Specials/Special_Report/Deep_inside_India_secularism_is_a_way_of_life/articleshow/3561298.cms

On October 2, Gandhi’s birthday and Eid launched the annual Bengali festive season that will last into the third week of the month. Eid in India is determined by the visibility of the moon;

the Saudis, who check the sky with technology, celebrated the end of Ramadan a day earlier. Since one of the many definitions of Indian secularism is proprietary rights over holidays, some Calcutta companies shut down on October 1. The origin of holiday is ‘holy day’. Bengal has always been holier than thou.

Sour-brains who rearrange life by the calculus of productivity miss the point. Bengal understands GDP (Gross Domestic Product) but values GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness). Economists will never understand the power of the embrace, common to both Durga Puja and Eid. Every human being is an equal in an embrace.

That is the first gesture after the Eid prayer. I spend Eid at Telinipara, some 30 miles north of Calcutta along the jute-mill dotted banks of the Hooghly, where I was born.

The men of our family walk together to the Chhoti Masjid (Small Mosque) with heads bowed. This is not due to any excessive humility. We have to avoid stepping on pats of still-wet cow dung. Early risers have first use of public facilities. The municipality has sprinkled white disinfectant powder along the drains on either side, a practice started during the British Raj and followed twice a year, during Eid and Bakr-Eid. The cows were oblivious of municipal concerns even during British rule.

The official name of the mosque is the rather grandiloquent Masjid-e-Ibrahim (Mosque of Abraham); its popular name is more appropriate, although it has become a bit larger since last Eid. This need has been felt for more than a decade, with the increasing population of Telinipara, but it became possible only when the owner of the huts adjoining the mosque sold his property to the mosque.

Like any public institution, the mosque was strapped for cash. The owner gave it for less than the market value, despite higher offers. He was a Hindu. He was happy to take less because, in his words, the mosque too was “ Bhagwan ka ghar (God’s house)”. Five hundred bags of cement came as a gift from a renowned Calcutta Marwari business family. Neither made the contribution because they expected their names to appear in India’s largest English newspaper.

The maulvi leading the prayer was an angry young man. He offered an answer to a major dilemma of dialectical spiritualism. If Islam was the chosen faith, and Muslims Allah’s select people, why were they mired in poverty when non-believers in the West were flooded with riches and comfort? True wealth is not what you see in this life, but what you will be rewarded with in heaven. He went on a bit about the pleasures of heaven, not forgetting the heavenly wine that will not leave you with a headache. And his route to heaven was a trifle severe, demanding abstinence even from music. But his argument was a placebo, a calmative for a community bewildered by questions.

Later, around ten, enthusiastic young men of my mohalla took me to their single-room club, fed me sandesh bought from Bijoy Modak’s excellent shop, and asked me for “nasihat”. I had no advice to offer, just the essence of some experience along the road from Telinipara to Delhi. The peddlers of violence have nothing to offer but self-destruction, I said, and there were nods of agreement. The rungs of an upward ladder are a modern education; and education is the equal right of both boys and girls. The horizon will be outside reach, and the community remain fractured as long as there is gender bias. The young must leave the mistakes of their parents behind. We Indians laugh and cry in Urdu and Hindi and Bengali, but we rule in English. The language of economic and administrative power is English, so learn English.

The young men were ahead of such advice. They were determined to add a room to the club, which will serve as a library and a tuition centre for those who show promise but do not have the means to fulfil their promise.

Later, a father brought two teenage daughters and reminded them that they wanted to tell me something. Their eyes just a trifle hesitant, but growing with confidence, they said they would be giving their Madhyamik examinations next year, and were determined to go to college. The father beamed with pride. Elsewhere a mother was spending what for her was serious money to get her child into kindergarten in St Joseph’s Convent in Chandannagar, which was my first school. I chatted with a student of Aligarh University; she is in her second year, studying statistics. Her English diction was perfect. In another conversation men marvelled at the fact there was now a fortnightly market in our mohalla where goods worth lakhs were bought. Women were the big spenders. Only 10% of the milling shoppers were men, and they had come as bodyguards, someone said with a very hearty laugh.

This is not yet a gender revolution, far from it. But this is the first hint of a gender insurrection.

When I was in my second year, a student of Presidency College, this small street of Telinipara had descended into desolation through communal violence. On one black night, nearly every mud hut was set ablaze as Hindus and Muslims chased each other with spears, swords, country revolvers, kerosene and matchsticks. They are back together now, the past lost in conscious amnesia.

More than three decades ago, the Chhoti Masjid had become a refuge for Muslims seeking shelter from Hindus. It has become a Bari Masjid today, with help from Hindus who believe that this too is a house of God.

India may lose itself in Delhi and Mumbai and Bangalore and Ahmedabad, but finds itself again and again in millions of Teliniparas.

ARCHIVE: