Minority Report

8216;8216;Those who join the fold,8217;8217; they hold, 8216;8216;do so because they are attracted to Christianity through the Christian witness and the community8217;s work for the poor as done by Mother Teresa.8217;8217; And so goes the slanging match between the two parties.

Recently, however, the 8216;8216;offended8217;8217; party has been trying to broaden the debate by making it a controversial issue between various minority groups, with the purpose of alienating them from each other. Strategically, this is a smart move, modelled on the legacy of our colonial rulers who advocated the police of 8216;8216;divide and rule8217;8217;. It is clear that the fundamentalists are trying to create a wedge between the minorities, so that it will lead to a weakened resistance which can collapse more easily.

Take, for instance, the recent reports of conversions to Christianity in the border areas of Punjab. This is nothing new. Such rumours have been floating since last year. In fact, at the initiative of the then member of the National Commission for minorities and its current chairman, Tarlochan Singh, a meeting between the Sikh and Christian leaders was even arranged in Delhi last October.

Besides Tarlochan Singh, among the others present at that meeting were Professor Kirpal Singh Badungar, president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Committee, Amritsar, Kiranjot Kaur, its general secretary, Mohinder Singh, Jaswinder Singh, Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao, Rev. Valson Thampu and Dr B.S. Lal.

In a letter to the Delhi Archbishop, after his return to Amritsar, Professor Kirpal Singh wrote: 8216;8216;The warmth of your feelings has left me with an impression never felt before. You have exhibited a great capacity for accommodating the viewpoint of others. Though I already had a great respect for Christianity and its rich ideals, my meeting with you has reinforced my reverence for the Christian Community8230;I hereby invite you to pay a visit to the Golden Temple to further promote our inter-faith warmth.8217;8217;

However, when the current controversy broke out, the NCM chairman flip-flopped for a while between the fundamentalists8217; position and the Christians8217;. He reportedly spoke different things to different audiences. When Archbishop Concessao wrote to him, his reply, dated March 25, read: 8216;8216;The reporting has not been proper8230; I did not say that Christians may refrain from putting up churches near the border.8217;8217; Nevertheless, the issue created confusion between the Sikhs and the Christians, both of which, according to Tarlochan, are 8216;8216;minority communities and have been keeping very good friendly relations for centuries.8217;8217;

Then came the report on conversions of Muslims in Kashmir, which prompted BJP member Balbir Punj to observe that 8216;8216;Christian groups make no bones about using money as a primal leverage for harvesting souls. It is no surprise that the Campus Crusade for Christ could afford to pay every fresh recruit in the Valley Rs 12,000 per month, plus perks. Would this then not appear to be a more lucrative career choice for some Kashmiri Muslim youths 8212; hard cash which not even a terrorist organisation would have paid him for picking up an AK 56 against the Indian army.8217;8217;

I am sure Punj would agree that this would be a lucrative choice not only for Muslim youths but also for those belonging to the Bajrang Dal, VHP and RSS shakhas, who are spurred to pick up the trishul.

Dividing the country8217;s citizens on communal lines is a single-point programme of fundamentalist organisations, who will take recourse to any means to spread their agenda of division. The religious minority groups must guard themselves against such divisive forces. Otherwise, nobody will come to their rescue when each group stands in complete isolation from the other.