Thomas K Oommen

I was struck by the sincerity and honesty of your Easter message to the people of God in which you explained the Indian situation. What provoked you to write an Easter message like that?

Actually it was written in the context of the current national situation. Human life itself is now threatened by the powers of evil. Easter, which reminds us of the victory of life over death, is very relevant to our local context where social, political, religious and cultural spaces are dominated by the forces of death. Resurrection is a continuing experience that unites us with life and strengthens us to fight against the structures, systems and forces of death. I gave this message because I am convinced that our lives are under threat.

How do you look at the fascist ideology of the Sangh Parivar?

They have mixed politics with religion, putting the nation in a critical situation of fight for survival. When both these elements come together, we have an agonizing situation. I am not against any religion, but religion and politics, in their own way should be ultimately used for the betterment of life. I am not against any political party too.

What is the distinction between Hinduism and Hindutva?

Hinduism is a philosophy, a dharma and as a whole we recommend its philosophy. Hinduism and Hindutva are two very different things. Unfortunately, in Christianity too we have similarly different perspectives of religion. Though we proclaim the Christian principles of love and justice, Christianity is also taught and practised in a very different way. Hindutva is a supremacist ideology – an extreme form of Hindu nationalism. In a country whose constitution proclaims liberty, equality, and fraternity as its ideals; assures social, economic and political justice to the citizens of India; offers liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith, and worship; provides equality of status and opportunity to all the people, we find some extreme nationalist blocks intimidating minorities.

Do you think of Hindutva as a fascist ideology?

India’s “founding parents” had created “a pluralistic nation” where the state’s role is “to protect and preserve the rights of all faiths, especially those of religious minorities.” But today, the central government has a fundamentally different agenda, which is in line with their notion of the Indian nation – Hindu Rashtra. Towards the fulfilment of this agenda, the government is changing school textbooks, inserting dogmatic and pseudo-scientific religious content, banning films, books, festivals of minorities etc., which they claim ‘offend’ Hindu nationalist sentiments. While I consider Hindus as my own sisters and brothers, I believe Hindutva, which is totally against the values of Hinduism, is a danger to the age old spirit of religious fraternity that this nation upholds. The communalist and fascist ideology of Hindutva promoted by the ruling BJP casts a shadow over constitutional secularism and the rights of religious minorities. As a citizen of India and as the head of an Indian Church, which belongs to a minority religion, with the majority of its members belonging to the minority communities, I hereby share the fear my people have under a Government that has become a nightmare to the poor and the minorities in India.

Hasn’t Hindutva borrowed some elements of fascist ideology from abroad?

They are copying somethings from a foreign fascist ideology, mostly the bad elements of it.

Don’t you think that the Hindutva movement is reasserting the caste system by promoting high caste hegemony in India?

I can’t say if that is it fully true, but some symptoms of it are there for us to see. We are not yet liberated from caste hegemony. We must rectify it. Activists, intellectuals and many others who raise their voice against corporate-fascist ideology are being silenced and even murdered. But I believe as a citizen of India and as a disciple of Christ, it is my role too to warn my fellow citizens against the fatal danger posed by the Hindutva forces that are in nexus with the corporates.

Do you think that Christianity also is getting coloured by some sort of communalism and caste mentality?

Sure, we must admit that reality. Love and justice is the base of Christianity, and yet we remain very deeply rooted in the caste system, of which exploitation and inequality are essential parts. We cannot have such a Cartelistic mind-set. Let me openly admit that the caste mentality is very true of us. We should give it up.

Why do you think that some sort of communalism is creeping into us?

We remain far removed from the real principles of religion. If we read Hinduism as a philosophy of dharma, then we can live here peacefully. We try to live in past glories. Such a backward mentality will be numb us in the face of burning issues of life.

How do we get out of this, bishop?

We have to become true Christians for that. That looks very remote, but is very magnificent. At Salt March in April 1930, Mahatma Gandhi raised a lump of mud and salt and declared, ‘With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.’ Today, I urge you to unite, irrespective of your religion, caste, class, creed, colour, language and gender, and shake the foundations of this new empire being built by the corporate-fascists, so that our nation remains a sovereign, socialist, secular and democratic republic.

What is that true Christianity according to you?

A true Christian is someone who takes up Jesus’ mission. He/she wants to transform the society. Actually, in the first century, the Jesus movement moved against the established religious situations of the time. But we neutralized all that by our own approach. The Kingdom of God is far away. We go after money and spend it, not to protect the weak. The Kingdom of God is not a structure. It is the result of a movement. It can become possible only through wounded hands. The Church needs this courage, this answer and this assurance.

Is there humanism, a universal humanism that embraces every one?

Yes, we see the human face of God in Jesus. Now, we have to see God in the human face. God is not away from us. We should understand the meaning of God. Man is the sign and expression of God.