P.A.Chacko S.J

The central and eastern tribal belts of India are more and more coming under the hatchet of the Hindu dominated right wing BJP government. ‘Ghar Vapsi’ (home-coming) program which is used to entice the Adivasis to the Hindu fold has been a much orchestrated program involving enticement, threat and harassment. It has had the blessings of political patrons.

The argument the Hindu fold dished out for public consumption was that the Adivasis are fallen away Hindus turned Vanvasis or jungle dwellers. It was time they returned to the true fold in good spirit. The term ‘Adivasi’ is not acceptable to the Sang Parivar because the term connotes indigenous people. On the other hand, the Hindu DNA theory is that the Aryan Hindus were the earliest settlers and the Adivasis are fallen away Hindus or Vanvasis. By this argument they want to erase, at one stroke, the five thousand plus years of Adivasi existence starting with Sindhu Ghati. It is a premeditated strategy to obliterate objective history and the argument of honest historians that the Sindhu Ghati had a population prior to the invasion of the Aryans from the Iranian steppe.

From ‘Ghar Vapsi’ the political wing of the Sang Parivar, the RSS-backed BJP government has graduated into making anti-conversion laws to prevent conversion to any religion, leaving out Ghar Vapsi as an exception. In their dictionary Ghar Vapsi is not conversion even it has connotations of force, enticement, intimidation or violence.

The most recent such legal enactment is being attempted by the BJP- dominated Jharkhand government under Raghuvar Das. Even as the tribal dominated opposition party objected to the introduction of the Freedom of Religion Bill 2017, the ruling party passed it in the melee on August 12. In order to hoodwink the tribals and the general public, the government demonstrated a publicity stunt by publishing an advertisement just the previous day in newspapers with a quotation purportedly from Gandhiji as if Gandhi was speaking against Adivasis converting to become rice Christians.

The quoted text is as follows: “If Christian missionaries think that a person can get salvation only through converting to Christianity, then why don’t you start this work beginning with me or Mahadev Desai (Gandhi’s Personal Secretary)? Why are you emphasizing religious conversion of these simple, innocent, ignorant and poor Dalits and Vanvasis (Tribals)? They can’t even differentiate between Jesus and Mohammad and are not even capable of understanding your religious teachings.

“They are as mute and simple as a cow. These are innocent and illiterate Dalits and Vanvasis whose poverty you are milking and are making them Christians; they do not become Christians because of Jesus but because of rice that is for their stomach.” This quote was a blatant lie by putting into the mouth of Gandhi what he did not say or what he did not mean. Neither did he use the word ‘Dalit’ or ‘Vanvasi’ to mean Adivasi.
What is the truth? The context of the quotation was a conversation between Gandhi and American evangelist Dr. R. Mott in 1936 in Travancore. Gandhi was there campaigning for temple entry for the lower cast people. During the conversation, as recorded by Mahadev Desai, Gandhi’s personal secretary, Mott said that the essence of Christianity was fellowship and sharing and believing in one’s religion also meant sharing. To which Gandhiji replied: if such is the case, why don’t you start with me and Mahadev? Why do you preach to these poor people who cannot differentiate between Jesus and Mohammed. They are mute as cow.

Gandhiji never used the word anywhere ‘Dalit.’ In his eyes and description the lower classes in Hindu Society were ‘Harijans’. It was a term he meant to use to impart a semblance of dignity to those who bear the brunt of upper caste oppression. Nor did Gandhi use the term Adivasi or Vanvasi. The term Vanvasi is the creation of the RSS who want to depict the Adivasis as forest dwellers. So, when Raghuvar Das government puts unsaid words into the mouth of Gandhiji to distort truth, any sensible person can understand who tells the lie.

The attempt of the government by misquoting Gandhiji was to use Gandhiji as a medium of communal propaganda. It is an utter dishonour to the Father of the nation. A horrible insult! The hypocrisy of it all is that it was the RSS man who shot Gandhiji dead and now the RSS-backed government wants to use Gandhi, the enemy of the RSS, to propagate its hate ideology. The untrue quotation also has other dangerous ramifications. It is an insult to every Christian and Christian way of life and action. Had it not been for Christian fellowship and sharing, no schools or colleges or charitable hospitals would have sprung to cater to wider sections of people irrespective of caste, religion or community. The misleading quotation is an insult to human sensibility and common sense. The government ought to apologise in public for this crime.

The purpose of the government was to use the quote to create communal passion and tension in Adivasi community and to use such passion and tension as a political winning point. It was after this shameful public exercise that the Das government went ahead, the very next day, to table the anti-conversion bill in the assembly and to get it passed in the midst of opposition party’s resistance and ensuing confusion. Setion3 stipulates that any forceful conversion or conversion by enticement can invite imprisonment up to three years and/or fine of Rs.50, 000 to Rs. One lakh. In case of a minor’s conversion the punishment is more stringent. A person taking recourse to the act of converting to another religion should inform the district civil authority and the person who receives him also should inform. If no report is made, prosecution follows.

In the States where such laws are existing, more than the law enforcement agency, it is the anti-social and rowdy elements who go about attacking people suspected of conversion activities. A parallel system is functioning, like the lynching spree, with the blessing of politicians and religious fundamentalists. That is where religious persecution will begin without any provocation.

The world should not remain silent before such unjust and unconstitutional laws. Men of conscience among the world leaders should speak up and interact with the government of India to make sure that religious persecution or harassment should be a thing of the past. And, more importantly, that the country’s constitutional provisions of fundamental rights and freedoms be honoured!