Ponmala

Verified scientific truths have now helped mankind to achieve the unimaginable: Using the James Webb telescope we have travelled back to the time when the first galaxies were formed. Every calculation based on scientific truths discovered by thinking man had to be applied with perfect accuracy to achieve that. If anyone of those scientific truths were violated or even slightly compromised, James Webb wouldn’t be launched and placed in an orbit that is 1.5 million kilometres away, from where it will provide us a visual history of the universe. Which means strict adherence to truth is essential for human progress. When truth is denied, compromised or violated, human progress gets stalled.

We are now living in a sort of dangerous world because of the preponderance lies are gaining over truth. Dictators have declared a war against truth, because they know only too well that the freedom provided by it will lead to their downfall. Fabricated lies that pamper to people’s national pride and inherited beliefs and notions are the vehicle elected rulers use to become all powerful dictators. The Big Lie of stolen election has divided American society into two. That lie has found favour with one-third of Americans of the conservative fold, despite all the government agencies, electoral institutions and 60 courts vouching for the integrity of the election.

Free and fair elections are a foundational component of political freedom. A few former conservative jurists joined hands to probe into the alleged election fraud committed during the 2020 presidential election, because they believe it is fatal for democracy if as many as 100 million Americans lose trust in elections because they believe in a lie. Their probe also found that there was no substance in the claim of electoral fraud. They hope truth will enlighten those who believe in the lie and make them change their minds, but that is a long shot. Evangelical white nationalists are wedded to the Big Lie, despite professing their faith in Jesus who said, “If you abide in my word… you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).

Truth seems to be losing its sheen for other Christians too. In the Syro-Malabar Church, the backers of George Cardinal Alencherry are celebrating the clean chit he received from the Kerala government on some shady land deals he entered into as head of the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese. In an affidavit filed in the court, the state even went to the extent of stating that the cardinal had not violated the canon law. Three Church appointed commissions and the Vatican had found that the cardinal had flouted canonical procedures and the law of the land while executing the land deals. Who is speaking the truth, a communist government that is bending over backwards to curry favour with the cardinal for electoral reasons or the Vatican? Who is to judge if the cardinal has violated canonical procedures, the Kerala government or the Vatican? Whose judgment should Syro-Malabar Catholics abide by, the government’s or Vatican’s? Well, the supporters of the cardinal have preferred the lie fabricated by a communist government over the truth discovered by the Pope.

This represents a new low in the politicisation of a Church that spearheaded the Liberation Struggle that unseated Kerala’s – arguably the world’s – first elected communist government led by EMS Namboothiripad. And the same Church is now relying on another communist government to substantiate a big lie it has put forward to protect its head. What else is this but a case of moral decadence, both of the Syro-Malabar Church and the Kerala government?

Truth is the foundation of morality. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Ram was called a righteous king because he was the epitome of political morality. As a ruler, he practised political propriety to a fault, so much so, he gave priority to satisfying the moral conscience of his subjects over personal considerations. He even went to the extent of subjecting his wife Sita to a Trial by Fire to prove her innocence to his subjects. But today, under Modi, who is proclaiming the return of Rama Rajya, all political propriety is thrown to the wind and moral standards are violated with impunity. Democratic institutions are torpedoed, presumably to re-establish Lord Rama’s righteous rule! One wonders how Rama would react if he were to visit Modi’s India, a la Maveli, who visits Kerala every year during the Onam festival.

Through his Discovery of India, Nehru discovered India’s secular, tolerant and inclusive culture. He strived hard to a build a modern nation on its ethos. Modi is now reshaping it into a religion based Hindu Rashtra. To that end, he violates all its truth based rules and norms. As we celebrate the 75th year of independence, we have a nation where people are made to rot in gaol for standing for what is true and just. After Stan Swamy, we now have activists TeestaSetalvad and R B Sreekumar who may suffer his fate. Some thirteen journalists are now in gaol for no other reason than that they dared to tell the truth. The role played in this by the courts and other constitutional institutions that were designed to safeguard truth and justice against the onslaught of dictatorial rulers is the most disheartening aspect of it all.

Under NarendraModi, modern day Rama, and his loyalist Amit Shah, modern day Lakshmana, truth has become a casualty of surging reactionary religio-cultural attitudes. They have shrunk Rama Rajya to the perimeters of a temple. Goodbye, righteousness; welcome, theocratic Fascism. In the fire pit of the grandiose Ram Temple, truth and righteousness will get consumed. It is a pity that independent India is an emaciated democracy at age 75, and that is because she has of late been on the wrong side of truth, which alone can lead individuals, nations, the Church and the world on the path of freedom, and thereby to relentless progress.