It’s the Christmas season, the time of the year we celebrate the joy of giving, the spirit of togetherness and of course merriment.
Christmas, much like Diwali, is a festival that transcends religious boundaries and is rightly celebrated as a community event not just among Christians but also among the wider community in the form of cultural gatherings, get togethers, Christmas tree parties, office events, carol singing and the like.
However, in India, if one has been following the news, what was once a harmless community event has been turned into an instrument of hate by fundamentalist ruffians who in the name of protecting Hinduism have begun disrupting events disallowing cultural programmes and beating up those who celebrate much like they used to in the past treat Valentine’s Day.
Such disruptions have been reported in Haryana, in Assam as well as in neighbouring Karnataka where it is the hoodlums who are dictating terms not just to the Christians who are celebrating but anyone who celebrates or organises something remotely linked to Christmas.
In Haryana, a Church was vandalised, in Assam non Christians were banned from celebrating Christmas, in neighbouring Karnataka churches have been vandalised and services disrupted. In Agra, the fundamentalists even burned an effigy of Santa Claus accusing him of conversion while in cities across the country celebrations have been forcefully shut down under the guise of similar pretence.
In the past it would be easy to dismiss the attacks as being conducted by fringe groups only keen on disrupting those celebrating. Rather than taking action against such elements, the administration of the state where these incidents are taking place appear to be actively backing the attackers suggesting that it might actually be a state sanctioned policy to target minorities.
This coupled with overt decisions from the BJP ruled governments to pass dubiously drafted bills like the anti-conversion law that more than anything are designed to send a message to minorities rather than to actually crack down on conversions, leave little scope for doubt that these attacks are nothing short of state sanctioned actions by the ruling establishment that this country doesn’t belong to everyone -- no matter what the constitution says.
The state has been quick to slap draconian anti-terror laws against those protesting and questioning the government even if there’s a hint of aggressive language in their speeches. But when it comes to the fundamentalists acting in the name of Hinduism, there is very little action forthcoming if at all and the attackers largely go scot free.
The government knows that it will pay very little political price for allowing the ruffians to run amok and instead believes that it stands to gain at the expense of minorities in India.
In the bargain elected governments, sworn to protect the fundamental rights of the individual citizen to practise their own religion, are looking the other way as the fundamentalists run amok with impunity trampling on the rights of the individual citizen.
The right thing -- their bounden duty no less -- for the ruling governments and authorities in places where these events are occurring to be doing is to crack down on this vigilantism with an iron hand with a stern message that no one is allowed to take the law into their own hands and a message that individual fundamental rights will be protected. The ruling governments and the ruling party must be made to face hard questions -- they cannot be allowed to preach one stance in one state and practise another in another only because the political compulsions are different here.
