Paul KeenanAnother Christian community comes under pressure, writes Paul Keenan
Violent attacks on religious minorities, threats against worshippers, forced conversions, churches burned.
So familiar and recurring is this list of actions carried out in the name of one branch of religious fundamentalism that the reader can be forgiven for bracing for an update on the latest outrage carried out by Islamic State in the Middle East. And while events there (and lately in some European cities) have garnered the lion’s share of media attention, incidents no less sinister, though located much further east, have been occurring ‘under the radar’ for some time against another branch of the Christian community in the name of religion.
Over the last eight months, India has witnessed a renewed surge in fundamentalism, that of extreme Hinduism against both the Christian and Muslim communities, involving all of the previously cited tactics.
The latest example came on January 14 when the Christian church of Our Lady of Graces in Delhi was attacked, apparently by a lone intruder who was seen on CCTV as he smashed his way into the building to target a statue of the Virgin Mary.
The incident was less damaging than December’s arson attack, also in Delhi, on the church of St Sebastian, but no less shocking to the Christian community, which has urged the authorities to do more to offer protection while attempting to highlight the increasing pattern of actions it faces at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists.
Attacks
After the Lady of Graces vandalism – the fourth against a Christian place of worship in the capital in seven weeks –Delhi’s Catholic Archbishop Anil J.T. Couto spoke publicly of “a clear pattern of orchestrated attacks”.
The list of incidents is not limited to churches or to Delhi. Over the latter half of 2014, Christians and Muslims have experienced attacks on followers across many parts of India, ranging from demands that schools incorporate statues of the Hindu goddess Saraswati, prayer services be toned down, to a decree that schools remain open during Christmas celebrations (subsequently rejected); in Hyderabad last month, a pastor and his followers were severely beaten by Hindus outraged at the loud singing of hymns.
While no stranger of inter-religious tensions and recurring outbreaks of violence between communities based along religious lines, India’s latest catalogue of anti-minority outrages, while having its roots within a movement long existing in the country, now appears to be driven by a conviction within that movement that its time has surely come.
The commencement of this new fundamentalist wave is pinpointed by many India-watchers to May 2014 and the triumphant entry into power of Prime Minister Nerendra Modi at the helm of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), a movement already synonymous with Hindu nationalism and, more worrying, fundamentalist leanings.
Time and again during the vicious pogrom against Christians in the state of Orissa in 2008, members and activists of the BJP were identified as having a hand in the most heinous crimes.
That the BJP should attract a more extreme Hindu element should be of no surprise, given the party’s own antecedents, from its formation in the 1980s as a political force loyal to the vision of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an ideological Hindu movement which first came on the Indian scene in 1925 to envision a nation of Hindus for Hindus.
Declaring that the very tenets of Hinduism itself, and the preachings of its holy figures were sufficient to sustain and run the nation (a concept known as Hindutva), the RSS had a natural – and enduring – appeal for members of the majority community within then-colonised India.
Thus, the BJP’s rise eight months ago appears to have been interpreted by some Hindus at least as a defining moment in India’s history, the moment in which the drive to purify the nation began.
One RSS supporter, Rajeshwar Singh, leader of the Dharm Jagran Samiti (DJS) group (an RSS offshoot), recently declared December 31, 2021 as the completion date of the process, predicting by that date an India “freed of Muslims and Christians”.
This declaration came as part of a reinvigorated drive in recent months by DJS known as Ghar Wapsi, roughly translating as ‘homecoming’, under which India Christians and Muslims are afforded the opportunity to ‘return’ to the Hinduism of their forebears.
Defenders of the scheme point out that this is not a form of conversion as Hinduism does not actively seek new followers, and Muslims and Christians only exist in India as a result of the missionary successes in ‘stealing’ believers from Hinduism in the first place.
Such claims are hard to set against counter claims that minority faiths are often informed that they must become Hindu in order to qualify for ration books or that they have been threatened with land grabs if they do not ‘return to the fold’.
So where is Prime Minister Modi in all of this? Leading the nation, he is, after all, duty bound to uphold India’s secular constitution and the freedom of religion it guarantees. Sadly, the premier appears to believe that the best way of addressing matters is to address nothing at all, and he has remained notably silent on all issues religious. During a meeting on Christmas Eve with a Christian delegation, including leaders of three Catholic rites, Mr Modi informed his guests that there was no need for him to speak out, despite their concerns.
We should not be at all surprised by this, for Mr Modi has previous history when it comes to religious tensions. As former chief minister in Gujarat, Mr Modi was notably silent when his state was engulfed in serious violence in 2002 as Hindus rampaged in the wake of the firebombing of a train in which 58 Hindu pilgrims died.
Nearly 800 Muslims were killed in rioting, with allegations that authorities had fuelled and directed the violence.
Mr Modi was not immune from such allegations and, during an official visit to the United States in September, a human rights group initiated proceedings against him with a New York court. That action has now been shelved with the US government’s decision that Mr Modi’s diplomatic status protects him from prosecution.
That latter move clears the way nicely for US President Obama’s visit next Monday to India in time for the nation’s Republic Day celebrations. In addition to a rise to power on a platform of economic reform, Mr Modi finds himself leading an India that is rapidly becoming an emergent powerhouse of industry, something which has led to much diplomatic courting in recent months by global leaders.
Thus, will Mr Obama give voice during his visit to that which Mr Modi and other visiting dignitaries have not?
The minority communities of India can only hope.