Victory in the Soul of India not just in the Polls

Light of Truth

August 15th, 2018

Myron Pereira S.J., Mumbai
(Former Director of the

Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai and the Editor of the Jesuit monthly, Jivan.)

The present world is seemingly suffering from nostalgia or home-sickness, why are we so home-sick? Fundamentalism is a reaction to this uprooted situation. In every country there is the tendency of Ghar Vapsi movement which becomes fanaticism. Is man a tree to be rooted?

We’re suffering neither from home-sickness nor from nostalgia – what are we nostalgic about? What are we home-sick for? What we’re suffering from is the breakdown of faith. All religions need to interpret their faith experience – this after all, is what Vatican II was all about – but few religions wish to do this because of the psychological and social crises that this entails. So faith has become a form of indoctrination for most. It is not subject to critical enquiry, much less it is an experience of mystery.

Ghar Vapsi is not the desire “to return home,” as the Hindutvawadis deceitfully make it out to be. Adivasis have never seen caste Hinduism as ‘home.’ Rather, it is the “forced conversion” of the poor tribals and dalitsby the upper-caste Hindus into the Hindu fold where they will function as serfs and slaves. It is to be resisted at all costs.

For the poor change their lot through migration – this has been their story everywhere, right from the days of Abraham. But not only do the poor ‘uproot,’ they also ‘transplant,’ creating more vigorous cultures in their new places. Mass migration is one of the ‘signs of our time.’ Consider the histories of Tamils in Singapore, Gujaratis in South and East Africa, Germans and Italians in South America, and the Chinese across South Asia. Uproot, adapt, prosper – this is the key.

Fundamentalism is rooted in the fear of change, and clings desperately to the “sacred word of God” (in religious fundamentalism, but there are other kinds of fundamentalism too) as something immutable and permanent. But change is happening everywhere today. And what brings it about are mass migration and technology.

Mass migration is of three kinds – first, tourism; second, emigration for better employment; lastly, to escape persecution (the refugee problem). We are aware of the turbulence migration is causing in today’s world. But there is also the ‘inner turbulence’ caused by technology – biotechnology which wishes to change the human body; transport technology which condenses space and time; and most of all, media technology which has re-created our feelings and imagination.

Is man a tree to be rooted, you ask? That he is, whence the problem. But he could also learn to ‘become grass’ – humble, resilient, versatile; grass which easily grows everywhere and covers far more of the earth’s surface than its mighty forests.

There are two metaphors on the journey of human life, Homer’s Ulyssian return to the homeland and Abraham’s exodus leaving kin, kith and land. Which do you opt and why? What is homecoming for you?

Interesting metaphors you’ve chosen: Abraham’s exodus from his homeland, and Ulysses longing to return home (in spite of his many distractions along the way). And yet, even Abraham keeps his link to his homeland by insisting that his son Isaac marry someone from the “old country” – Rebecca – and not a local girl. And Isaac too will follow his father’s practice in finding a spouse for his son, Jacob. (see the epic of Jacob, Laban, Leah and Rachel in Genesis)

I think the differences be- tween the Hellenic myth (Ulysses/ Odysseus) and the Semitic saga (Abraham, Moses) are really related to the presence or absence of women, for it is women who give form to all our (masculine) longings, and who bind their men to a body of flesh.

Thus Odysseus comes home to Penelope, his faithful wife. But whom do Abraham and Moses come home to? There are ambiguities in Abraham’s relationships to women – not just to his concubine Hagar, but to his wife Sarah as well.

In this we see the difference of the two kinds of myth–a myth of wanderlust, to follow one’s star and enter the “promised land” and even wrest it for oneself by force; and the myth of finding one’s home in the sacred body of the Great Mother, the earth goddess, from whom all life and fecundity come.

Interesting that the Hindutva ideologue Savarkar’s term for our country is not “mother India” Bharatmata, but pitrubhumi, punyabhumi (“fatherland, holy land”), pointing to a masculine, not a feminine

imagination. Was this because of Savarkar’s homo-sexuality (as we know today), and that his Hindutva ideology derived from Fascism, a glorification of male power and supremacy– incidentally from another homo- sexual, Hitler? Hindutva has no space for feminine compassion. Worth reflecting about.

Do you relate today’s nostalgia to globalisation and market culture where particular cultures and identities are subjugated and destroyed by alien cultural dominations, how to defend particularities and cultures?

Globalization as I see it, is colonialism in an updated form. Who are those who promote globalization? Those who are at the top of the market, who want a globalization of finances and demand that smaller countries open their markets to foreign donors to make their pro ts. But these same countries are dead against the globalization of labour preventing workers from choosing where to work for better salaries and working conditions.

Similarly tourism is the globalization of leisure and culture, initiated by the first world for its own citizens. It undoubtedly brings socio-economic benefits to poorer countries, but it also creates grave social and psychological upheavals in the local population, and as we realize today, severe ecological damage. The converse of tourism is the globalization of persecution, where minorities today must flee their homelands as refugees because of race, class or religious belief. And unlike tourists, they are not welcome anywhere.

Is consumer culture globalisation of self-interest? How does it affect our cultural and religious values? Why is there so much hate and violence in our society?

In many ways the consumer culture brought us many benefits. It brought quality goods into the hands of ordinary people, products which were earlier only accessible to the elite. Consider the revolution in textiles and clothing, for example; or that of transportation; and now cheap smart phones which link villages across the globe.

But all this has come at a cost. Human beings have become more materialistic, more competitive, preferring the new, the cheap and the ephemeral over what has permanent value. Relationships, once binding, are now broken easily. There’s a sense of spiritual drift as values change. In the marketplace of ideas, everyone wants the latest, most convenient fix.

Traditional values presuppose settled and homogeneous communities. Today with migration, societies are more mixed – and so, more suspicious of each other, and where they compete with each other for opportunities and government largesse, they easily turn violent. How frequently race riots and communal are-ups have a socio-economic base. And so many governments preach hatred for “the other,” the outsider – as a means of controlling the masses, of staying in power.

What is the future of Indian democracy within the context of Hindutva ideology? What is the role of Christian Church in the Indian democratic system?

I cannot see any space for democracy in the context of Hindutva, because for all its present posturing, Hindutva is Fascism “in khaki knickers” (the RSS uniform). Hindutva is the feudal riposte to India’s constitutional democracy, the legacy of our nationalist freedom movement. When the RSS-BJP speaks of ‘nation,’ beware! They refer to a feudal construct, headed by brahmins and banias, (or in today’s words) by caste and corporates.

Similarly, when the RSS-BJP speak of “cultural nationalism,” they are thinking of “one people, one nation, one leader” – the Nazi slogan through which Hitler op- pressed Germany for 12 years, led it into a disastrous war, and to the genocide of the Jews. The RSS-BJP may still lead us into a war with Pakistan (god forbid!), but it has already begun its oppression of all who are not caste Hindus – Muslims, Christians, tribals, dalits….and women.

This is why it is important to realize that Hindutva is a foreign implant, with no real roots in our culture, which has always been a culture of diversity and dissent. The RSS hates this diversity which it considers a weakness, and absolutely forbids all dissent. It played no role in our Freedom Struggle, and in fact allied itselfwith the British in abject subservience.

How we could even allow such a party to rule us speaks volumes for our ignorance and stupidity!

At the present, opposition to the Hindutvawadis is scattered. It is still focused on an electoral victory next year, which even if it comes about, is inadequate – because Hindutva is a hydra headed monster, and requires not just a victory in the polls, but a victory in the soul of India. And what is this soul? The values of the Constitution – a commitment to diversity, freedom, egalitarianism, secularism – values often ignored, and rarely practised.

The Church has much to contribute in this, for Christians are the best educated group in the country, and so uniquely placed to support a democratic movement. But for this several things in the Christian community will have to change.

It will have to become more egalitarian for one, giving ‘democratic space’ to its tribals, dalits and women. All traces of sexism and casteism will have to go. At the moment, the Church is just another feudal entity in this country, ruled by a timid hierarchy, constantly apprehensive lest its network of institutions be throttled by a hostile state.

Then, the Church needs to lose its “conversion complex” and make inter-faith dialogue and relations, the keystone of its approach to others. Pope Francis has given the lead in this, and he is an exemplar to follow.

Many more things can be said – how our traditional faith formation should blend into an ‘inter-faith’ formation, with a knowledge and respect for other faiths. How our service-oriented institutions should slowly turn ‘prophetic,’ speaking out for justice, equality and community. But for this we must learn to handle persecution with courage and confidence, as Jesus advised His disciples. “In the world you will have problems; but fear not, I have conquered the world” (John 16:33).