Black words, black deeds

The cold-blooded killing of a Christian missionary and his two small children in Orissa must be condemned in the strongest fashion. Every right-thinking Indian will be deeply shocked to know there are people in this secular and tolerant country who commit murder and other despicable acts in the name of religion. Many more people should add their voices to those of President K R Narayanan and leaders from the Telegu Desam and other parties who have wasted no time and minced no words in condemning the black deeds. Only strong public opinion can arrest the terrible sickness spreading through the country. No one should make the mistake of taking the incident in Manoharpur village as a localised affair or an isolated act of madness. Too much has happened in other parts of the country, chiefly Gujarat, to allow anyone the comforting thought that the organised killings in Manoharpur were aberrations. The murders of Graham Stewart Staines, nine-year old Philip and seven-year old Timothy are the horrible outcome ofthe hate campaign mounted against Christian missionaries in Gujarat and elsewhere by the VHP, Bajrang Dal and their associates.

That mischief should have been nipped in the bud. But timely and firm action against the propagators of hate, intolerance and invented grievances has been absent. What the country has heard instead from Sangh Parivar spokespersons are mealy-mouthed expressions of regret and what sound like justifications of the terror tactics of religious fundamentalists. It is not surprising that extremists have been encouraged to act out their hate. While tribal people in remote villages are terrorised, churches are burnt and missionaries killed, Indians don8217;t need a debate on conversions, they need to reaffirm their commitment to every individual8217;s right to his or her own beliefs and practices and to build a civilised society.

Even now there is insufficient recognition of the threat to social peace in the countryside. The Orissa government has acted swiftly to bring the perpetrators of theManoharpur atrocities to book. But apart from the transfer of some officials in Gujarat, there is little sign that governments in states infected by the hate virus are doing all that is essential to combat it. The Sangh Parivar shows far more concern about its image in foreign capitals than about the victims and potential victims of anti-Christian propaganda. Those whose rhetoric is fanning the fires of intolerance in the countryside disclaim all responsibility and are readily believed in official quarters. The pattern of denial is the same whether calls to oppose Test matches lead to vandalism or calls to oppose missionaries lead to arson and murder: we are clean, we are against violence, they insist. While conspiracy theories abound, peaceful communities are whipped into a frenzy of anger and fear and ordinary people8217;s sense of patriotism is abused for political ends. There should be a price to pay for such irresponsibility. Instead of bending over backwards to accept professions of innocence from the hatemerchants, the BJP should consider whether the sickness can be checked by banning fundamentalist outfits.