Culture of Violence
Violence against the Minorities in India
1. Introduction
India boasts itself to have unity in diversity with
the multi-faceted identity of religion, ethnicity and culture.
Being a religiously and socially pluralistic society, India claims to have most
diverse, yet accommodative cultural identity. India is a secular nation, and has no official or established state
religion. India, however, commits to treat all communities as equal and
to protect their religious and social liberty. But that is not the case in
actuality, rather there are unwarranted attacks on the religious and social
minorities in the recent times and it poses a real threat to the ideals on which the real ‘India’ stands after
Independence. So it is an attempt made in this paper to understand the violence
against religious minorities in India critically and it is theologically
analysed and reflected.
2. Who
are considered to be Minorities?
The term ‘Minority’ has different meanings in
different contexts with respect to religion, language, ethnicity, race, culture
and other social characteristics.[1]
Due to the ambiguity of the term ‘minority’, there
have been contentions in the Supreme Court over the minority status of
different communities.[2] Though it is evident that a minority should
be less than 50 per cent of the population, the question being addressed was
whether it should be based on the population of the entire country, a
state or an even smaller region. In some cases, a community that was a majority
in a state was a minority in the country as a whole.
As of religion, Hinduism has the highest population
but of other social bearings it is the select and elite few who dominate the
minorities. The minorities were dominated in the name of religion by the few who
hold the power with arrogance. So the term minority used in this paper would
connote both the religious and social minorities who undergo violence, since
social minorities are also religious minorities and vice versa. So where all we
mention the term ‘minorities’, it would mean both the religious and social
minorities.
2.1. Hindu
Cultural Nationalism and Violence against the Minorities
It
is when the oppressed minorities raise their voice or do something to resist
against the evil by the dominant against them, violence is taken as a tool to
use against these people. Though they are
numerically majority, they are minorities because they are different in their
identities and so are considered as the minorities. So in India, religious,
racial, caste, Tribal and Adivasi groups all got clubbed together as
minorities, on the basis of their numerical status only. Therefore co-existence
becomes problematic when the majority religion or the ones who dominate fears the
threat of expansion, actual or imagined, from the minority religions and groups.
Our
time has been the major one which has seen the most crippling effects on the
masses of a global redistribution of capital. The Dalits, Adivasis, Tribals and
Women, all the minority interests and groups that form an intrinsic form of a
pluralistic society, have been hit violently by the social upheavals; it is
also a period that has been marred by growing violence against the Dalits in
different parts of the country.[3] It
should be understood that the religious minorities are also the social
minorities who are embracing the minority religion because of the of
recognition as human in their mother religion.
Whenever
one speaks about the violence against the minorities in India, inaction on the
government’s part in dealing with crimes against minorities is to be mentioned,
like, “In India, dozens of hate crimes against Muslims and Christians took place
across the country against the backdrop of a wave of Islamophobia and
Christianophobia under the Hindu nationalist government.”[4] It
is the same with the social minority groups of Dalits, Tribals and Adivasi’s
and their likes. At least ten Muslim
men and several other Dalit people were lynched and many injured by vigilante
cow protection groups, many of which seemed to operate with the support of the members
of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Some arrests were made, but no
convictions were reported.[5]
For
to bring uniformity of religion and culture, in the present scenario in India,
it is the violence which the government and the Hindutva fundamentalists took
in their hands to make these minorities dance to their tunes. By inducing the fear of violence through
lynching, dis-honour/pride killings, sexual harassment, molestation,
terrorising, etc, the minorities are forced to be silently accept whatever is
dictated to them by their slave-masters. The new way to violently make them
subdue to their foot is the proposal of ‘Ghar-Vapsi’ by the Hindu
fundamentalist groups with the support of the BJP Government at the centre.
Those who are against are considered as anti-nationals. The poor
minorities mostly were forced to be converted against their will and they were
also forced to change their cultural identity by any violent ways, threatening
their lives which often lead to human rights violations.
2.2. What
is Hinduism?
Hinduism
is a blanket term used for several religions in India. Thus the term “Hindu religion” denotes all the
religions of India together, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Tantrism, Shaktism, etc.,
each with different doctrines. It was also claimed that Hinduism is a word
popularised by Swami Vivekananda, who gave a unified, theological explanation
for the religious and cultural practices of Hindus, during the late 19th
century. Hinduism, according to
swami Vivekananda was a religion, superior perhaps, but certainly not in enmity
with any other religion particularly ‘isam’ which people confuses with or try
to project in a way. But the only
problem which even swami Vivekananda not able to solve and to make it clear is
the idea of caste and its manu code sanction. Even that could be resolved in
the later development of ‘Hinduism’ as a religion and its later
interpretations.
2.3.
What is Hindutva?
Hindutva
is a word popularized perhaps coined also by Veer Sarvarkar as in his 1923
treatise, ‘Hidutva- Who is a Hindu’. According
to him, in Hindutva, a person qualifies as Hindu, only when s/he considers
India as their Mother/fatherland, the land of their ancestors and holy
land. Hinduism is only a derivative, a
fraction, a part of Hindutva. So to him, religion was therefore a subset of
the political idea, rather than synonymous with it. Thus for Hindutva is
not identical with Hinduism as such, and so is to be clearly understood. So the Hindutva ideology cannot
accept the Christians and Muslims into their fold even though they belong here
to India as their mother land. So both Christians and Muslims could not claim
allegiance to the three essentials of Hindutva: a common nation, a common race
and a common civilization, and so
cannot be included into their frame. Another line of thought of Hindutva
explored by Golwalkar is the passionate advocacy of ‘cultural
nationalism’. This of course is directly
opposed to the civic nationalism protected in the constitution of India. The
same ideology, which stands against the peaceful coexistence of the people of
different identity in India, was also promoted by the Hindu nationalist
paramilitary volunteer organization the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) along
with its affiliated family of organizations in the Sangh Parivar, notably the
Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP).[6]
It was this ideology which had given Christians and Muslims only a second class
citizenship in which they could live in India only in tolerance.
It
is this ideology to which we raise our voice and not against the Hinduism as a
religious identity. Only because of the fact that it is against the
constitution of India and its multi-faceted cultural, religious and ethnic
identities, and the unity in diversity to which India stand for, the religious and
social minorities, and even the Hindu thinkers stand against.
3. Kinds
of Violence
The
social connotations of violence cannot be spoken without mentioning its
religious impacts and influences. It is also vice versa, since if we talk about
the religious minorities, it has, though not fully but to a very large extent,
are the talks about the social minorities like the Dalits, Tribals and Adivasis
of India.[7] Thus,
it can never be spoken apart, since India in its pluralistic stance does also have
a diverse cultures and people groups to be preserved. What we witness and are
part of now, is a nation which wants to eliminate its minorities in the name of
uniformity. To do that, it is violence
which they take in their hands to subdue and to fulfil their fundamentalistic
and fanatic stance which is done by the Hindutva forces. Hindutva in essence is
Fascism…Hindutva is a sub-acute, chronic Fascism of a caste-ridden,
post-colonial society, opines Ram Puniyani.[8]
There are three kinds of violence instigated and
done in India by the Hindutva forces on the religious and social minorities;
with the ruling BJP government’s approval, silent in some other instants and
also so vocal and openly justifying it in some other times. That violence is
analysed.
3.1. Physical
Violence
The
minorities are physically manhandled in many parts of the country. Those seem to be the
strategic plans of the religious fundamentalists and religious fanatics who
always look for time and opportunity to eliminate the minority mass. They were considered to be anti-nationals and
are even killed if they raise their voice against the evil plans, schemes and
executions of their ideologies. The recent killing of Gouri Lankesh is one of
the many incidences to subdue the voices which rise on behalf of the
minorities. Several journalists
and Human Rights Defenders also lost their lives. Freedom
of expression in universities also remained under threat. Journalist
Gauri Lankesh, an outspoken critic of Hindu nationalism and the caste
system, was shot dead outside her home in Bengaluru by unidentified gunmen in
September 2017. Criminal defamation cases were brought against
several journalists.[9] That is also
a justice issue which is to be addressed. Going along in line with Y.T. Vinayaraj’s words, it is our fear that we even tend to lose our hope
on the highest judiciary the Supreme court, which seem to become RSS Court, and
Indian Constitution becoming Manu code because of the BJP Government’s
promoting of the fundamental Hindutva principles and to bend every form of
justice to their tunes.
3.2.
Psychological Violence
The
minorities were made to undergo psychological violence which gives more pain
and traumatic mental state many a times that it even drives them to suicides in
the extreme cases. Other psychological aspects of violence unleashed are as
follows.
3.1.1.
Fear and shock
This being a military doctrine, technically known as
rapid dominance in which crushing power is used to paralyze the enemy’s
perception of the battlefield and destroy its will to fight. This is been used
by the now government to create a doubt so that they be suppressed.
It is created by mob attack and violence on the minorities and their places, be
it religious centres or the living spaces.
3.1.2.
Low intensity Violence
This
comprises of a variety of events from riots to attack against the minority
communities as well as homes and symbolic buildings. It is to attack the psyche of the minorities. Therefore, frequency
of such incidents and geographical spread is maintained. These attacks are carried out by the fringe
religious fundamentalist groups and are done with license and immunity.
3.3. Structural Violence
Theories of structural violence analyses how
political, economic and social structures result in violence. Those
are also seen as a strategic goal of the government in making constitutional
amendments both directly and indirectly to make the minority people powerless. The most common example would be deprivation
of basic human needs. Galtung terms it as the result of the unequal
distribution of resources.
3.3.1. The state policies are manipulated, both directly and indirectly, to
cater the needs of the select few and their fundamental Hindutva ideologies are
imposed into the Indian minds through that. The changes in many
government policies bear witness to this.
3.3.2. The economic condition and the living
conditions of the minorities in India are so poor that their mobility was
always under stake. They are always attacked and are eliminated in the name of
development projects and proposals for development of the minorities.
3.3.3.
With the help of the Police and law
enforcing agencies the minorities are made to feel in-secured and are kept
discriminated by the mainline Indian Society as aliens to them. These
are structurally and systematically done by the help of media and other news
agencies.
3.3.4 Most of the prominent educational and
medical institutions are minority institutions which helped the cause of the
development of the people at large. But in
making them inactive and to keep their institutions under threat is also
another way to supress their esteemed reputation and recognitions.[10]
3.4. Symbolic
Violence
It
is everyday violence happening against the minorities. According to Oommen, symbolic violence refers to the tendency on the part
of dominant groups to stigmatize the culture and devastate the habitats of the
poor and the powerless minorities. Symbolic Violence works in two ways – 1) it
inflicts deep psychic wounds in the minds of victims resulting in collective
alienation; and 2) it often triggers off physical violence both against them
and by them. These are also done so systemically and systematically.[11]
The core symbols, both religious and social, are attacked so often and is made
into a place of constant attack. With that fear is instilled into people.[12] Few
snapshots of it are mentioned below:-
3.4.1.
The anti-cow slaughter campaign is
romanticising the sentiments of Hindus on cows and to make all those who eat
cow-meat are demonized. There are several incidents in which those who
were carrying the cow-meat for business were brutally killed by some of the
fanatic groups, which raise human rights violation issues.
3.4.2.
The ghar-wapsi campaign is another one
which invites the converted Christians and Muslims and other religious people
are requested and forced many a times to return to their mother religion, which
is Hinduism. The sad truth is that Hinduism is a combination of so many
religious identities which is pretty complex to understand. But the Hindutva
exponents and propagators are trying to organize them into one fold.
3.4.3
Love Jihad/Beti Bachao Bahu Lao is a
wrong propagation of accusing Christians and mainly Muslims that they are
converting people by marrying from other religions. These were checked and
proved that it is untrue.[13]
4. Theological
response
“Theology
is defined as the study which, through participation in and reflection upon a
religious faith, seeks to express the content of this faith in the clearest and
most coherent language available.”[14] Theological articulation is
subject to individuals perspectives. Thus from the perspective of margin, especially from the lens of minority is
inevitable.
4.1. Experience as the source for Minorities
Experience
is an important authoritative source of Theology. Christian
theology is concerned with human experience which is common to humanity.
Theological reflection makes use of resources derived from experiences.
Experiences also contribute to the understanding of our faith. Schleiermacher says that “the form of experience varies from
individual to individual and from one community to another. Theology aims to
interpret the experience of the individuals.” Christian theology
provides an interpretive framework within which human experience may be
interpreted. [15]
Thus experience of minority should be respected and considered.
4.2. Perspective from minority
All through the history and place, people are
treated through their identity. The concept of identity has long fascinated
writers and scholars. Philosophers of the Western European
enlightenment such as Descartes, Locke, Kant, and Hegel all consider identity,
the mind, the self, or the ‘I’ in their writings.[16]
Especially, from the perspective of minority people suffer with various
problems including identity. They are treated lowly because of their identity
and least bothered. The very identity of
the people of Israel can be seen as minorities who experienced
oppression and liberation. Today,
similar situations continue to threaten the lives of millions of people in the
world. Millions of people are marginalised deliberately throughout the world,
Asia is not free from these problems, especially Indians in the name of
Religion and caste.
The whole of the Bible itself is about the exodus of
the minority people who were undergoing the violence of the dominant.
Whenever such things happened, it talks about the acts of God’s manifestations
in their life. The exodus of the
Israelites, the minorities, could see the guiding and ever present actively of
God in their life. When the Israelites got settled and became the oppressor,
God was with the oppressed and stood against the powers which unleashed
violence against the minorities. Even
Jesus Christ was manifested as the minority among us and lived the pains of
violence of the evil powers. But He constantly confronted those powers
which release violence at their disposal. He even was killed in those kinds of
violence. But the hope did not end there, but was renewed in His resurrection
and the existing church, which carries his work forward without fear.[17]
So whenever the violence of the
powerful is unleashed on the minority, God acts through human agencies. When
human agencies curbed and are curtailed, God raises constantly other human
agencies to raise against the unjust and cruel violence. God even judges
those who do that.
5. Inferences
and Reflections
“Vigilante violence aimed at religious minorities,
marginalized communities, and critics of the government often carried out by
groups claiming to support the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) became an
increasing threat in India,” said Kenneth Roth[18]
He also reports that the Indian government failed to promptly or credibly
investigate the attacks and violence, while many senior BJP leaders publicly
promotes Hindu supremacy and ultra-nationalism, which encouraged further
violence. Thus, religious fundamentalism had given rise to systemic violence
against the minorities in all possible means is a change in the strategy and is
definitely a threat to the peaceful coexistence in India. The violence against
the minorities in India are to be averted and is to be curtailed completely.
There are certain inferences and reflections made on the basis of what is
inferred from the violence and its various forms.
5.1.
As a pressing need of the hour, it is
our bounded Christian ethic to come together with all the minority people and
group and various faith identities to come together to stand against the evil
fundamental ideologies which unleash unwarranted violence on us. Thus
unity now should be the main ideal with which we can move forward to make the government
and groups to change their ideologies or to join hands to stand affirmed
unitedly against the peace building process in India instigated by the
government or social groups.
5.2.
Justice for those who are affected due
to the violence is to be understood. This needs to be done within legal
mechanisms. Thus, Minorities are to be instructed with the proper
knowledge of the constitutional provisions they have which is supported by the
legal procedures.
5.3.
The minority people are to engage
themselves in social and political engagements. It is not about winning or
losing, but about representing in the politics and social spheres to contribute
and to participate in the very public life of the people in need at large,
voicing out for justice issues.[19]
6. Church’s
response to Violence against the Minorities
A letter from the Catholic Archbishop of Delhi has created
a furore in the already fuming political scenario of our country. In His letter,
the Archbishop Anil Couto requested parish priests of the Capital city to start
a year-long prayer campaign to save India from the "turbulent political
atmosphere", which "poses a threat to the democratic principles
enshrined in our constitution and the secular fabric of our nation".[20]
This immediately was responded with so much of negative criticisms from all
quarters, especially from the people in the Government who continue to
perpetuate Hindutva ideologies.
Also,
there was a letter written recently by
the Moderator of the Church of South India who was clear in explaining how the
Hindutva ideology promoted by the ruling Bharathia Janata Party (BJP) subverts the
peaceful coexistence at large and is inviting terror against the minorities of
our nation.[21]
In this way the churches are not only praying but also responding concretely to
the existing politically oriented violence against the minorities of our
country. In that regard, the
initiations of the churches at large, seem to respond rightly and will further
unite the Christian community and also the minorities and like-minded people to
respond against the violence against the minorities which is very inhuman in
its nature.
In
saying this, it is not justify that the church and the Christians at large are
blameless. Being self-critical, we acknowledge our own failures to preserve
peace and to defend justice. In that regard, we humbly accept responsibility
along with the Pope. Saving one of his
most audacious initiatives for the twilight of his papacy, John Paul II yesterday attempted to purify
the soul of the Roman Catholic Church by making a sweeping apology for 2,000
years of violence, persecution and blunders. He was bold in his statement
saying, “We forgive and we ask forgiveness. We are asking pardon for the
divisions among Christians, for the use of violence that some have committed in
the service of truth, and for attitudes of mistrust and hostility assumed
towards followers of other religions.”[22]
With that, he called for universal brotherhood in nurturing and catering peace
among nations and to stand in defence of truth and justice. It is in that way,
we have the moral stance to be critically look into the violence against the
minorities at large. It is not to
eliminate the evil powers which act against peace and justice, but being
prophetic in self-evaluating and condemning the acts of violence which would
force or appeal for a change in ideologies.
7. Conclusion
As
Y.B. Damle points, nationalism which is essentially a political process was
encouraged by religious and social reforms.[23] As a democratic country, India is to move
forward with this challenging vision, for which the fundamental fanatic
Hindutva groups will constantly are a threat for the unity of the nation.
So the country wide network for promotion of secular values are to be connected
up with human rights groups in getting justice and to campaign and struggle for
that[24]
should be initiated by us, as theologians, churchmen and people representatives
seems to be the ultimate need of the hour. ‘Jesus’ coming is intended to liberate human beings from all forms of
alienation and injustice which prevented them from experiencing the fullness of
life. Thus, in Him, we have a call for a radical involvement in the
struggle for social justice and profound involvement in the building up for a
hospitable and compassionated community.’[25]
As people with such big visions and ideals, we need
to engage in various social associations, not only with our fellow minority
groups and faiths, but also with all those who are with a vision of seeing a
united India without any kinds of violence. It should free itself from all the shackles
of differences in our identities. Those are to be cherished and to be
appreciated and also if needed accommodated. Let us march with a new vision of
India without violence.
Thus as we see the paper, it
is important to have a praxis oriented attitude towards minorities reality in
India as they are being marginalized and crushed by powers. So, careful
analysis of the same will dig deep into the realities, so that we become the
agents of peace, change and transformation.
[1] Jules
Deschanes, is a member of the united nations subcommittee on the prevention of
Discrimination and protection of minorities
as “a group of citizens of a state, constituting a numerical minority
and in a non-dominant position in that state, endowed with ethnic, religious or
linguistic characteristics which differ from those of the majority of the
population, having a sense of solidarity with one another, motivated, if only
implicitly, by a collective will survive and whose aim is to achieve equality
with the majority in fact and in law.”
[2]
Though the Indian Constitution clearly states the rights provided to
minorities, it does not clearly define the term ‘minority’ or state which
groups or communities of people fall under the term. The term ‘minority’ is
used only twice in the Constitution, and refers to religious, linguistic and
ethnic minorities. Hence, the power to decide which group or community benefits
from minority rights is in the hands of the government.
[5]https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/human-rights-report-slams-india-on-increasing-hate-crime-against-dalits-minorities-340246.html
accessed on 28.10.2018.
[6] Sashi Tharoor, Why I
am a Hindu. (New Delhi: Aleph Book Company, 2018), 143
[7] The
human rights watchdog of New York states that noted that in India dissent was
labelled anti-national, and activists, journalists, and academics were targeted
for their views, supressing free expression. The report also delineates the
Violent Protests, Impunity for Security Forces, Treatment of Dalits, Tribal and
Adivasi Groups, and Religious Minorities, Freedom of Expression and Foreign
Policies which controlled and govenrned by imposing, exploiting and violating
everything by force and violence. These violence are instigated by the Hindutva
based BJP Government and other forces.
[8] Ram
Puniyani, Fascism of Sangh Parivar (Thiruvananthapuram: Mythri Books,
2009), 71.
[9] https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/human-rights-report-slams-india-on-increasing-hate-crime-against-dalits-minorities-340246.html
accessed on 28.10.2018.
[11] It
was acknowledged by the former Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh,
while mentioning about the attacks on the Christians in Kandamal that it was a
‘national shame’, for Orissa had become the laboratory for the hindutva forces
to work out their strategy at that time. Those attacks were per-planned,
systemic and so regular that the violence on Dalit Christians from where it
simmered into other distiricts of Orissa and other parts of India too. This was
one of the incidents from many which are planned by Hindutva and are executed
in various parts of India. Raj Bharat
Patta, A Violent Sight on a Silent Night (Delhi: ISPCK/NCCI, 2009),
45-47.
[12] In
the other way, people are made to be questioned of their citizenship though
they knew that they belong here. Their national identity is under constant
threat. The minorities are often accused and are under constantly threatened
and blamed to be anti-nationals, which is also strategic. There are so many
campaigns against the minorities both the present government in the centre,
along with the other religious fundamental groups.
[17] The
Old Testament and New Testament teaches about the justice and love. Mainly, Jesus teaches us not only to love
neighbour but also our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. Jesus is the complete identification with the
marginalized people. When love and justice happens to the minority, Jesus’s
mission is also established.
[19] The
Report of NCCI on A Study on Discrimination and Violence against Christians
and Muslims in India (2013-2015), (Nagpur: Christian Council Campus), 92-7.
[20] https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/letter-catholic-archbishop-incensed-india-bjp-180529105850511.html accessed on
30.110.2018
[21]Most. Rev. Thomas K.
Oommen, CSI Moderator’s Letter- Central Government: A Threat to the Poor and
Minorities in Religion & Society, Vol. 63, No.3, July 2018 on Nationalism. (Bangalore:CISRS,
2018), 58-62
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