Author: Chandan Mitra
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 3, 2002
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/archives1/secon2.asp?cat=BKBONE1&d=SUNDAYPIONEER/BACKBONE&fdnam=nov302
The rupee is yet to be made fully
convertible; that is, you can't carry a wad of rupee notes when you travel
abroad and get them exchanged for local currency at any bureau de change.
However, if some people have their way, one billion people (rather 800
million of them) ought to be made fully convertible. Suddenly, religious
conversion is being offered as "the panacea" for all real and imagined
socio-political afflictions. A curious event took place near Gurgaon in
Haryana on October 27 when some 80 Hindus allegedly converted to an array
of religions. In this Conversion Supermarket, people were apparently given
a choice between Buddhism, Islam and Christianity. They picked the religion
of their fancy the way one would normally select a bar of soap from a superstore
shelf. Religious preachers from these three communities were allegedly
present there hawking their wares. If some highly imaginative media reports
are to be believed, these 80 volunteers subjected themselves to various
strange rituals and triumphantly announced the new nomenclatures that were
bestowed upon them following these mumbo-jumbo ceremonies. Some even tonsured
their heads by way of a symbolic cleansing of their erstwhile creed. The
entire drama would have been quite comic had it not been conducted in the
backdrop of the tragic lynching of five Dalits by a mob of hoodlums, apparently
at the instigation of a corrupt bunch of policemen at Dulina some 10 days
back. Ironically, the SHO of the thana (since transferred) happened to
be a Muslim.
Predictably, the hugely trumpeted
conversion bazaar has turned out to be a hoax. Most of the alleged neo-
converts have strenuously denied discarding their existing faith. They
have claimed they were never told of plans to get them to switch to some
other religion when invited for the October 27 protest meeting, held under
the aegis of a tireless self-publicist, one Udit Raj. Even the family members
of the lynched Dalits of Dulina who were tom-tommed to have converted to
Buddhism have staunchly rejected the propaganda that they have done so.
Evidently bewildered by the turn of events and the unwarranted media attention,
they are now busy telling whoever cares to listen that they do not want
any tension with their neighbours and shall continue to practice their
ancient faith.
The Gurgaon hoax comes only weeks
after a controversial ordinance promulgated by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister
Jayalalithaa proscribing religious conversions by allurement, force or
fraud. Predictably again, the standard-bearers of hard line secularism
are up in arms against this. Even the Communists (I would have thought
they should have no interest in the subject since their founding fathers
had declared religion to be the opiate of the masses) have jumped into
the fray to denounce the ordinance. The BJP, which never had the guts to
introduce such legislation in any State ruled by it, has warmly lauded
Amma Courage and called for similar laws to be enacted by all States. All
of a sudden, religious conversions have become an issue across the country
and I suspect will feature prominently on the national agenda in the coming
months.
Faced with the embarrassment of
the "converted" turning their backs on him, Udit Raj, the latest wannabe
Kanshi Ram, pompously wrote in Indian Express that if anybody saw what
happened in the villages around Dulina, he would have decided "right then
and there to give a call to all the Dalits of the area to convert to Buddhism,
Christianity or Islam, anything but Hinduism." His extravagant assertions
are beside the point. The question is whether the conversion of Dalits
to other faiths benefits them in any way economically or socially. The
overwhelming evidence on this count suggests that, actually, it has a negative
impact. Many readers may recall an agitation for reservations to be extended
to Dalit Christians some years ago. In fact, Mother Teresa courted some
controversy by associating herself with this misguided demand although,
to her credit, dissociated rapidly when its implications became clear.
Why were 'Dalit' Christians compelled to seek extension of the privileges
extended to their Hindu compatriots for themselves? Obviously, the adoption
of a new faith had not given them any economic benefits and had rightly
deprived them of the privilege of job reservations. Hinduism and Sikhism
admit that injustice has been done for centuries to the so-called outcastes
and must be rectified by legal and constitutional means. Religions that
admit to no such discrimination cannot, therefore, seek special dispensation
for the socially oppressed among their brood. Worse, it is common knowledge
that in many churches in South India, particularly Tamil Nadu, there still
exist separate pews for Scheduled Caste converts. So, the dignity and social
equality that was promised to them when they switched to their new faith
never really materialised. Prejudices die hard and the all- pervasive,
debilitating influence of caste continues to influence mindsets across
communities.
Nevertheless, conversions do happen
and there is evidence of renewed vigour on the part of proselytisers. That
appears to have prompted Ms Jayalalithaa to act decisively. The Constitution
guarantees the freedom to practice religion; implicitly, its preaching,
too, is permitted. But there is a laxman rekha between preaching and converting.
If, persuaded by preachers of a particular religion, somebody decides to
renounce his/her faith and adopt a new one, there is nothing wrong with
it. But, if organised bands are allowed the freedom to roam the country
with the express purpose of effecting conversions, the state must step
in. Wherever conversions have happened in significant numbers, social tensions
have considerably exacerbated. Organs of the state have, consequently,
had to bear the burden of maintaining law and order in remote places that
had no previous history of communal tension. On account of the heightened
drive to effect conversions in rural areas, the atmosphere in the placid
Indian countryside has got vitiated in certain States. This, in turn, has
attracted the attention of Hindu preachers who are now penetrating into
the deep interiors to effect re- conversions. The spiral of communal one-upmanship
is rising with attendant consequences, none of which are positive. More
than laws, what is needed is a consensus among religious leaders not to
turn conversions into a numbers game. From benevolent, even if self-righteous,
Christian missionaries to egocentric, self- proclaimed messiahs of the
Dalits, everybody needs to recognise that far from solving problems, conversions
accentuate them by sharpening social polarisation. Hinduism being a non-proselytising
religion, it is understandable if Hindus feel helpless but angry when large-scale
conversion melas are organised where abuse is heaped upon various facets
of their admittedly unequal faith. Thanks to the progressive notions of
our legendary national leaders and particularly the stellar contribution
of the re al messiah of Dalits, Dr BR Ambedkar, Hindu society and Indian
polity have proactively reached out to their downtrodden and steadily downscaled
prejudices in order to integrate the once-upon-a-time outcastes within
the mainstream of Hindu religious and social practices.
Affirmative action must, therefore,
be made the buzzword for Dalit integration, and those still guilty of discrimination
against Scheduled Castes must meet with exemplary punishment. Self-serving
calls for conversion, on the other hand, will only ignite passions that,
in the end, can only play into the hands of majoritarian zealots, to the
detriment of Dalits and Indian society as a whole.
