Stop Forced Religious Conversions!

The Sangh Parivar is not able to resolve the dangers loominglarge on the caste-based Hindu religion on its own. There is a saying thatyou should first try to resolve your differences on your own, and then consult your neighbours. Butinstead of taking recourse to either of these options, they start findingfault with Christians or Muslims — Jains and Buddhists have now become theirlatest targets. .

On the 19th September, 2006, the Gujarat Assembly passedthe Religious Freedom (Amendment) Bill stating that prior permission is requiredfrom the government before seeking conversion to any religion and as if this wasnot enough, Chief Minister Narendra Modi has done what has not been doneanywhere else by declaring that Buddhists and Jains shall be treated as a partof Hinduism.

For certain limited purposes, in certain matters likemarriages etc., Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs have been included in the ambit ofHindu religion in our Constitution — but in Articles 25 to 30 of Constitution, ithas been explicitly stated that Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are three separatereligions. It is very clearly stated: 'Every person in India, is equallyentitled to freedom of conscience and the right to freely to profess, practice,propagate religion.' The Supreme Court and the Minorities Commission have also held theview that Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism are distinct identities — and are not apart of Hindu religion.

It is interesting that using the same Article 25 (Clause 2) illogic (read inisolation), Sikhs too should have been covered by the Gujarat bill. But the billdoesn't do so. It has not declared Sikhs as part of Hindureligion out of cowardice. About two yearsback, when the RSS Sarsanghchalak, K.S Sudershan had declared in a statement thatSikhs were part of Hindu religion, the Sikhs had flared up and challenged thedescription, letting it be known that they were fully competent of looking aftertheir distinct religious identity. The situation had became very volatile, andperhaps BJP is aware of the sensitivities of its Shiromani Akali Dal allies andits electoral fall-out, which is why Sikhs have been kept out this time.

But just consider how these religions came intobeing.

Buddhism came into existence in the backdrop oframpant social evils prevailing in the society when LordBuddha observed that there was widespread violence, untouchability anddiscrimination against women.Humanity was his only concern and amelioration of the miseries of human beingshis ultimate goal —and he laid down certain norms for achieving this goal."I teach one thing and one thing only: suffering and the end of suffering"In real terms, it is not a religion but dhamma which means that human beingsshould do such deeds which should remove others’ miseries and bring happinessto others.

Similarly with Jain Dharma, as Lord Mahavira spoke out against the social evils and violence prevailing in the society at thattime, urging the people to follow the path of truth and non-violence.Gurunanak Devji also fought against discrimination and religious dogma of thosetimes and urged the people to follow the righteous path. All these religionscame into existence on a parallel basis and not as an off-shoot of Hindu religion.

Till now only Muslims and Christians were being targeted bythe Sangh Parivar —but now Buddhists and Jains are also on their agenda, butthrough the back-door. Has the Sangh Parivar and the Gujarat government soughtprior permission of Buddhists and Jains to make them part of Hindu religion? Ifnot, it is nothing but a case of forced conversion.

The fact is that a largemajority of people in India are converting to Buddhism and Christianity becauseof the caste-based Hindu religion. According to my information, Buddhism isspreading very fast in our country. BJP is only trying to get politicalmileage by treating Buddhists and Jains as Hindus. The BJP and the Sangh Parivarsomehow are worried that by 2066, Hindus in India will become a minority.

India is a secular country. Secularism simply means that the state shall not interfere in the personal and religious affairs of a person andreligion would not be used as a political tool. By framing such laws as areagainst religious freedom, the Gujarat government has made it clear that a personshall have to take permission from the state for pursuing a religious faith ofhis choice.

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and now Gujarat have made laws whichstipulate that whosoever wants to pursue a religious faith of hisfree choice shall have to get prior permission from the government. This meansthat the governments —and the Sangh Parivar at large — shall get prior information aboutanyone wanting to change theirreligion.

As most of such people wanting to change their religious identity would be Dalits and people belonging to otherweaker sections, is it very difficult to figure out what the Sangh and BJP inthese states wish to do? They wish to be forewarned so that they are fullyprepared to adopt all the means to prevent such conversions — through intimidationor by coercion.

Let us take for example the caseof a Dalit who does not have any farmland. There are so many ways to coerce orintimidate him via rich and powerful farmers: By not hiring him as a farmhand.By not allowing him to pass through land or dividers belonging to rich and powerfulfarmers. By instigating and creating dissensions among his other Dalitrelations. And if these tactics do not work, why, then there is always thetime-tested method of implicating him in false cases.

By creating all sorts of problems for peoplewanting to change their religion would in all probability dissuade such peoplefrom converting to another religion. Such persons wanting to convert to anotherreligion may be forced even to make a statement to the effect that they wantedto do so under pressure from a Maulvi or a priest. Under such circumstances, theSangh Parivar and their governments will also get a handle to harass and tortureMuslim and Christian priests.

Atrocities in any case are already being committedin many districts including Jhabua, Jabbalpur, and Dang on Christians.Presently, Christians are doing a commendable job through the convent schools inthe areas of education and health for Dalits and other backward classes — butthey would beforced to restrict their activities to the elite. It is an irony that the eliteand the prosperous sections of the society are taking maximum advantage of convent education being imparted by theChristian institutions, but when thesame Christian community wants to do something for Dalits and other backwardcommunities, it is termed as religious conversion.

After all, the colonising Britishwere also Christians and the upper castes happily served themas landlords, bureaucrats and in other capacities. If Christians and Muslims(remember the upper-caste Hindus working with the Moghuls?) givesome benefits to such people, then everything is fine otherwise everything iswrong.

The Sangh Parivar wants Buddhists and Jains to accept the suzerainty of the Vedas.Have the Jains agreed to accept the supremacy of the Vedas over the Tirthankaras?Have the Buddhists agreed to accept Hinduism's caste-system? The Sangh Parivaralso forgets one basic fact: It was Dr.Ambedkar who gave a boost to reviving Buddhism on October 14, 1956 at Nagpur by initiating lakhs ofDalits into Buddhism along with himself:

"I embrace today the Bauddha Dhamma, discarding the Hindu religion which is detrimental to the emancipation of human beings and which believes in inequality and regards human beings other than Brahmins as low-born."

Buddhism and Dr Ambedkar are in fact two sides of thesame coin. BJP will only stand to lose if they adopt such tactics, as whateversmall minority of Dalits who have so far been neutral towards BJP will bevehemently opposed to them after this move. The All India Confederation of SC/STOrganizations and the All India Christian Council is holding World ReligiousFreedom Day on October 13-14 at Nagpur where activists will becoming not only from different parts of India but from all over the world andafter this event, the struggle for religious freedom will be intensified notonly within the country, but with the active cooperation of people from all over theworld.

The Sangh Parivar have nothing to be afraid of Muslims orChristians who might be doing some conversions or spread of Buddhism at a fastspeed. The real danger to Hindu religion is from within because of its ownweaknesses. Thousands of instances have come to light when children from uppercastes refused to take mid-day meals in schools along with Dalit children. Entryof Dalits to several Hindu temples is still prohibited. It is a great irony thatthere is not a single Dalit industrialist nor is there any Dalit heading anImport-Export House. According to a recent survey, out of 315 top journalists,there is not a single Dalit journalist. There are hundreds and thousands ofcelebrities in the country, but not even one of them is a Dalit. . Under thesecircumstances, the real danger to Hindu religion is from within and not outside.By remaining deprived within the fold of Hindu religion, what do they enjoy? Slavery, poverty, humiliation?

Dr. Udit Raj is Chairman, All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations and Indian Justice Party