POLITICS OF RELIGION

India on becoming an independent nation in 1947 had drafted a constitution and the same was accepted in the parliament which made the country a republic. The country had embraced the secular ethos as found in the practices of its founding fathers both Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and scores of others who lived and died by the mantra of secularism.  The country had benefited largely due to this particular trait in the initial years of its independence but the same has become a burden of cross on the shoulders of the country over the years thanks to the relentless changes in the way the same had been viewed and acted upon by many successive governments in the center and state with little or no long term view at all but only short term political gains in the process.

With the split in the congress and the emergence of Indira Gandhi (though the latter preceded the former as she was responsible for the split), the style of governance by the central government has undergone a metamorphosis.  From an all inclusive governance followed by Nehru and Shastri and by Indira also in her first few years, the change was evident in that there was a heavy leaning on the minorities for support to remain in power and cultivating them as a vote bank.  The largest minorities in the country had started flexing their muscle as they could be king makers in the center as their block votes ensured the formation of a government or otherwise.  

Post assassination of the Prime Minister in office in 1984, totally inexperienced Rajiv Gandhi was pushed into the center to take charge as the Prime Minister. In his very first public utterance he alienated the most important minorities in the country by comparing the anti Sikh riots in Delhi and parts of North India to shaking earth of a big tree falls. Instead of condemning the acts of mass killing of Sikhs, he almost justified the action of a few congressmen. His over the board enthusiasm in getting a constitutional amendment to rescind the Shah Banoo case verdict is a classic case of minority appeasement which can be easily compared imposition of emergency by his mother to avoid getting disqualified post Allahabad court verdict. There was absolutely no need for that interference by a secular state in the affairs of religious practices set aside by the highest court in the country.  But he as the prime minister redefined the word secular in the phrase secular state.    His government's action in opening the locked premises of Ram Mandir in Ayodya is another blot in the secular status of the country.  Why the government has to involve itself in a dispute between two religions who contest the place as their own?  The country since 1947, thanks to the left leaning intelligentsia and writings of history had come to believe that the Mughal emperors were all benevolent and a supporter of Hindu cause. By opening the Mandir gates, his government had allowed this thinking to go awry and start questioning the Mughal emperors' and their atrocities against the Hindus and Sikhs and their places of worship.  

The most silent PM of the country PVN Rao was keeping his counsel when the Babri Masjid was demolished and a few senior leaders of BJP who were very close to him were also involved in the act.  He did not voice his concern as the PM of the country or as a citizen of the country.  He just kept silent on the issue.  It was left to the state government of UP to tackle the situation.  The ABV government's tenure of 13 days, 13 months and 60 months did not do any major damage to the secular fabric of India except that the Karsevaks returning from Ayodhya in 2002 were burnt alive in a coach in a train waiting to leave in Godhra junction in Gujarat.  No one seem to wonder why this happened and who were the perpetrators.  But the media and the opposition to the BJP had been able to keep the proverbial public memory alive about the consequences of this action in Ahmedabad and some other areas in Gujarat for close to 15 years now.  The then Chief Minister of Gujarat was villified and continues to be even after the highest court in the country had exonerated him of all charges.

The change in the government from "India Shining" of ABV to the first reign of UPA saw some development in the country in terms of taxation and road development being continued etc. The private telecom players entered the fray to make the dream of Rajiv Gandhi a reality.   The PPP model of road development saw boost in this tenure of UPA when not just the national highways but even the rural roads got a fillip.  The government of the day decided to adopt rural road scheme as a snub to the previous government whose catch-line was connecting the corners of the country with a golden quadrilateral of national highways.  Slowly the appeasement of the minorities especially the largest segment started rearing its head and it became ugly with many changes in the actions of the government favouring the same.  The ghost of conversion started emerging from the shadows in many parts of undivided Andhra TN and other parts of the country.  There were open conversions of many poor and BPL families to either Islam or Chiristianity with a promise of slew of support and monetary help.  These attempts were neither nipped in the bud nor controlled as in the earlier decades leaving many to wonder the agenda of the government. The UPA was able to get one more term in the governance in the center and the appeasement went to all new levels in turning a blind eye to the infiltration of Bangladeshi Muslims into the country or open conversion of poor Hindu BPL families to Chiristanity in coastal villages of TN, Andhra, Odisha etc.  The once more silent PM for a decade became a big problem as he could not control his ministers in the cabinet as one after other scam broke out in various sectors with telecom leading the race.    In this decade one of the most respected erstwhile diplomats was made a constitutional authority when he was elected as the VP of the country. He was presiding over the Rajya Sabha or the House of Elders.  The fact that he was a diplomat was only a quarter of a qualification than he belonging to a family of congressmen to make him the VP as in the case of the erstwhile President Pratibha Patil.  Family loyalty and minority appeasement scored more than the academic brilliance, political suaveness, and  administrative experience in selecting the candidate for VP that time.

Advance to 2014 and the change in government yet again with the BJP forming a government in the center.  The President and the VP were staunch congressmen and the Prime Minister elect was one of the staunchest critics of congress and its policies in the previous decade when he was the CM of Gujarat.  He objected to many bills and actions of the center some which were originated by the President when he was Finance Minister in the UPA government. The man ascended the steps of the parliament for the first time and became the Prime Minister and his working with the President was one of the most remarkable in the recent times with the President having lots of words of praise for him and in his counter the Prime Minister heaping praise on the President for having moulded him from being a CM of a state to the PM of the nation.    There had been occasional turbulence as in the case of every other government in the center or state with a few communal problems rearing its head.  There was an alleged attack on the church in Delhi by religious fanatics but on inquiry it turned out to be a handiwork of a frustrated member of the church.  Likewise the attack by a few on a cattle thief was given such a prominence and the media men and women who write for the international publications gave such a picture of the country, there were a few advisories issued by a few countries to their citizens when they visit some select places in the country.  The suicide of a boy who could not take the academic pressure at that level became a national obsession thanks to relentless media and the central government was made to look bad in the eyes of many.  There were many who returned the awards bestowed on them by the previous governments but never bothered  to vacate the rent free residences in the posh New Delhi area or return the money that accompanies such awards.  They just returned only the paper on which the awards were written and presented to them.    There were relentless never ending debates on TV channels. Even the army action in a few cases came under fire and a few politicians' patriotism  were caught with their pants down with their comments on the army and its actions.  The so called surgical strike in which the enemy state was caught totally unaware was discussed ad nauseum in the public domain by the media.  Suddenly every one started talking about the level of patriotism,  what constitutes one, who and what can be considered patriot or patriotic act etc. started flowing freely as water in the Ganges during the times of monsoon floods.   

The appeasement of the minority had for a change taken a back burner during this time. The conversions - have they stopped? only a study by an independent body can answer this.  But the rise of the so called right wing party in the social set up and political administration has given rise to shouting oneself hoarse that the minorities are in danger in the present set up.  Unfortunately, even the highly informed, educated and experienced leaders of minorities in India are no exception to this rhetoric and rabble rousing.  The recent utterances of the departing Vice President  in a TV interview a day before is not different in content and course.  he stuck to his religious beliefs and the school from which he had graduated.  This rises the most obvious question "Was he secular in his dealings in his day to day administration of the House of Elders in the last ten years?"  Such utterances from a very important constitutional authority on demiting office pales in comparison to the candid view of and the perspective  about the present government of the President who demited office only a few weeks back.  The Prime Minster in his wonderful speech made a sarcastic reference to this approach of the departing VIP from office reminding him of his lineage and academia and telling him that he will not be constrained by any office to air his views and also help other in the way he has been moulded in the past.  There is nothing more any one could have spoken or written than this classic sarcastic repartee of the Prime Minister.