Hindutva regime is ended
Interview with John Dayal, national vice president of All India Catholic Union
New Delhi (AsiaNews) The birth of Singh's government does not seem to have calmed the anger of anti-Christian Hindus, disappointed by the defeat of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party). Yesterday's edition of the mass-circulated daily Hindi newspaper, Hindustan, printed a sarcastic cartoon with Sonia Gandhi depicting the Madonna and Manmohan Singh as the Christ Child. John Dayal, national vice president of the All India Catholic Union (an organization representing 16 million Indian Catholics), has written a letter of strong protest to the director of the Hindustan, complaining of the grave disrespect against Catholic religious sentiments. Dayal also stated: "The Catholic Community in India registers its strong protest with you and hopes you would take urgent and immediate steps". On the open perspectives from the defeat of the BJP, Dayal released this interview to AsiaNews.
How do you evaluate the defeat of the B.J.P and the coming back to power of the Congress?
The people have chosen, unequivocally, that they will not suffer for very long any ideology, policy or programme that goes against the grain and the values of the Indian civilization equity, fraternity, acceptance of richly poly-ethnic culture. They have through this elections given their definition of Rajdharma the State must take care of, and protect the citizen, and civil society should assist in it. Thus is why the BJP and its RSS cadres (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) lost large tracts of their erstwhile strongholds in Gujarat, the Hindutva Laboratory. Rajdharma means, and requires, a total commitment to the poor, the farmer, and the landless worker. The government of Atal Behari Vajpayee had failed to do that. While Atal's spin doctors were devising slogans such as 'India Shining', and the Krishna and Chandrababu Naidu were happy at their meetings with Bill Gates, farmers were committing suicide, prices were soaring, women were facing atrocities and workers were being sacked in disinvested industries without a safety net. There had to be a revolt against this version of India shining. But above all, the people have rejected the ideology of hate, consisting of xenophobia, narrow nationalism and a sustained persecution of Muslims and Christians, which was such a hallmark of the Atal government whether it was in legislative practices such as the passing anti-conversion laws, or in the articulation of its chief voices, Uma Bharati, Singhal, Togadia, Bal Thakarey.
What is the future of the Hindutva ideology?
There is no future for Hindutva, much as there is no future for neo-Nazism, Apartheid, or the xenophobia that guided Enoch Powell in the UK in the Sixties. This is a sick ideology that is fighting against history, cultural anthropology, and human nature. This divisive ideology, derived directly from Hitler and Mussolini and fine-tuned during the Partition or India, preaches silly theses of One Nation, One People, One Culture. There is no place in it for religious diversity. There is no place in it for Dravidian culture, for the indigenous people of the North East and the Chhotanagpur tribal belt. There is no place for the Dalits. There is no place for reason, for dissent and for the rule of law. The ideology gained political ground riding hate campaigns in Maharashtra, Delhi and Gujarat over the years through a sustained vilification campaign against Muslims, first, an then Christians. In fact it is all but forgotten that the Hindutva forces had also targeted Sikhs and were directly responsible, during the partition of Punjab and the formation of Haryana, for creating a cleavage between the two communities on the issue of Hindi as the natural mother tongue of all Hindus. The first blow that eventually ended up in the rise of terrorism. In the six years that the NDA has been in power, the Hindutva gurus have had their men and women penetrate all strata, and all segments, of the ruling apparatus from the subordinate judiciary and he police on the one hand, to the welfare and human resource ministries, the entire education system, and the Constitutional entities such as the Minorities, Schedule Castes, and Women's commissions. The media, specially the official media, also has been thoroughly penetrated. This poses a challenge to the new government. It must take urgent steps to purge these institutions of such elements. It must take steps to investigate the funding of Hindutva agencies. It must punish those guilty of hate campaigns, and especially those guilty of Gujarat 2002 massacres. Even the Supreme Court has spoken on these issues. The RSS must, I think, be investigated internationally as it poses a threat to India, South Asian and World peace.
What is the duty of Christians in the new political situation?
As a citizen and part of the Civil Society, we need to understand that our community's interests are best served in a secular polity where the Constitution and the rule of law are supreme. We seek no special favours, and we will not tolerate any discrimination. We also do not want bilateral deals and assurances that are also simultaneously given to all religious minorities. The anti conversion laws have to go as they discriminate against Christians in practice. The Dalits must get their full rights as the Presidential order of 1950 discriminates against Muslim and Christian Dalits and erodes the Constitution's secular character. And economic reforms must touch the Christian community, which is amongst the poorest of the poor wherever the majority is of Dalits or Tribals. It is only in the thin coastal belt that Christians have food on the table. And even there, they do not all have a job in hand.
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23/04/2018 09:49
16/12/2009
