When fanatics cry wolf…
The ability to cry wolf and manufacture
excuses to sow communal discord has been the forte of the fanatic parivar in
this country. Their mastery in projecting their own alarmist tendencies,
divisive designs and corrupt mind-set onto their opponents cannot go unnoticed.
Their finesse at spreading rumours and pre-meditated counter-arguments to
create a smoke screen of innocence and patriotism that covers their destructive
and selfish designs could even surpass the genius of Joseph Goebbels in Nazi
Germany. The timing of the violence, the nature of the acts and the arguments in
defence are designed with such precision so as to imply multiple possibilities
of motives and ultimately portray the very victims of violence as the suspects.
So, while the fanatic parivar may desperately attempt to project itself as a
victim of malicious propaganda when debating the recent spate of attacks on
Christians and their places of worship by cleverly isolating other hate remarks
and events, its provocative literature and websites that are in circulation coupled
with the past history of attacks against Christians can hardly support its
innocence.
No one can deny that Christians though
stagnating at a meagre 2.5% in this country have contributed much more than what
could have been expected of them in nation building. Yet, time and again
Christians have been ridiculed as being anti-national and the motive of conversion
attributed to their service. The reason for this is that even after having
reputed institutions and man-power for research and communication at its
disposal, the Church has allowed the malicious propaganda and the lies of the
fanatic fraternity to colonise the social space. In all its commitment and
dedication to serve the larger community, the Church has neglected service to
its own members. This carelessness and apathy of the Church has been so
paralysing that it has now left its top leadership defending on the front-lines
while its members hide behind candle light. It still fails to recognise the
fact that what is claimed as a ‘communal fringe’ has actually grown into a
monster. The ignorance of Christians about the complexities of communalism and
deficiency of organisational structures within the Church to defend itself
against injustice is now ‘Acche Din’ for the fanatic parivar.
Glorifying persecution as an
unavoidable consequence for Christians who carry the cross by standing up for
social justice is only a rationalisation to deny the omissions and commissions.
Christianity does not discard the right to self-defence by employing
non-violent and democratic means against malicious and wilful attacks from
those who are hell bent of disrupting peace and denying justice. Gandhiji, who
also adopted the teachings of Jesus in his path of Ahimsa, had repeatedly
clarified that non-violence is not the weapon for cowards and does not rule out
reasonable resistance against the oppressor. Instead of Christians considering
themselves as the victims of communal hatred, this adversity needs to be
converted into an opportunity by collectively joining with constructive citizens
across all faiths to expose the lies and retrieve the social and political
space that has been usurped by the communal forces. Christians need to take on
the likes of the Bhagwatis and the Pai(s), for rubbishing the fears and
concerns of minorities as a product of fevered imagination. Probably, their
ideological prejudice for a Hindu Bharat, and probably even indebtedness to
Modi, has failed their reason and their ability to comprehend how communal
violence can also be so designed so as to appear like routine crime. Even Goa has
not been free from such instances of craftily disguised communal attacks which
a conniving law enforcing machinery brushes off as routine crime or accidents.
The edited version of this article is published in oHerald on 5th April 2015
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