The Christmas days witnessed a series of attacks on Christian churches. In many places statues of Christ were demolished. Acts of vandalism in its most aggressive forms were reported from states like Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Assam and elsewhere. Following that came the news from Calcutta that the authorities have blocked the contributions to ‘Missionaries of Charity’, the congregation founded by Mother Teresa.
As usual the police have registered cases and routine explanations were made on the vandalism. These incidents have caused great panic in the minds of Christian minorities. There are schools of arguments which plead to ignore such incidents saying that Christians consist only about two percent of the Indian population. Their percentage may be minimal. But the impact of these attacks on the secular fabrics of India is colossal. The shock waves that shook the Christian psyche are transcended into the minds of wider sections of minorities that, when taken together comprise around 20 per cent of the population.
That is how the attacks on minorities would become an assault on the foundations of secular democracy. The Communist party condemned these criminal activities and urged the concerned governments to come forward and punish the culprits as per the laws of the land. The party extends its solidarity with the brothers and sisters of the minority communities along with all other secular minded citizens of India.
The strength and stability of secular democracy depends strongly on the level of protection it provides for the minorities. Minority rights are considered the fulcrum of secularism and democracy in any modern society. Apart from the rights of the religious minorities, the rights of linguistic minorities, sexual minorities, ethnic minorities etc. are also to be given protection. The ideology and culture of racial supremacy have nurtured hatred towards minority rights.
Across the world, fascist forces have striven to flourish on this hatred. The growth trajectory of RSS-BJP voluminously speaks about this fact. Muslim- Christian hatred was the cornerstone of their fascist ideology which they consciously named as Hindutva. A close look into Hindutva would tell us that it is the Indianized version of Hitlerite fascism. Its resemblance in name with Hindu religion is consciously evolved in order to misguide the people. In fact, Hindutva has nothing to do with the ethos and also with how the world views Hindu religion.
The protagonists of hatred have no hesitation to go to any extent as part of their minority bashing. They would rewrite history and distort the mythology to serve their interests of communal divide. This divide among the masses is the primary goal of exploiting classes. At that point, the class interests of capitalism and the interests of communalists of all shades meet together. The ideological dependence of RSS with Hitlerite fascism is evident very much in their thoughts and deeds.
Absolute commitment to racial pride and total subservience to finance capital form the foundation of their ideological commonality. Based on these features, M S Golwalkar brought out his book, Bunch of Thoughts considered to be the revered book of Hindutva. In that work also the venomous approach of the RSS towards the minorities was amplified. Golwalkar categorizes minorities as the internal threat of the country. He narrated Muslims as the number one enemy and Christians as number two. Throughout their century long activities, RSS was spitting its venom to pollute the minds and brains of their swayamsevaks. Everyone in the RSS-BJP hierarchy is trained in that theoretical framework.
It has contributed its share in preparing the ground for the country’s division into two. The unending blood baths and killings on the eve of independence still remain as black mark in our history. Communal greed did not end there.
Seven years of Narendra Modi rule has sharpened the aggressive nature of communal hatred of Sangh Parivar. They have mastered using communal divide to meet their political ends. Riots were engineered to open shortcut to political power. Minorities were targeted with vengeance by the commanders of communal hatred reigning now.
‘We’ and ‘they’ became a common usage in their daily deliberations. Following the beginning of Ram temple construction in Ayodhya, several new Mandir-Masjid conflicts erupted. Christians were vehemently attacked in the name of conversion. The voice of reason and restraint disappeared from the dictionary of ruling circles.
They were always in search of issues to unleash attack on the minorities. Whenever there are elections around the corner, they intensify their efforts. Sangh Parivar is so particular that the popular verdict should not be based on their policies and performance. Theirs is a government which has failed in all walks of national life.
Unemployment, price rice etc. point to the hollowness of their achhe din. The people are thoroughly disappointed. Fully aware of this situation, the Sangh Parivar creates communal tensions in order to divert the people’s attention from basic issues of their life.
(By Binoy Viswam/IPA)
