|
 Anti-Conversion bill: yet another challenge to the Constitution
By Dominic Emmanuel
The
Milli Gazette Online
18 May 2006
Will
Vasundhara Raje have to wait for a poll debacle to withdraw the recently
passed “Freedom of Religion Bill 2006”, as Jayalalitha did after the
drubbing she and her party received during the 2004 Lok Sabha elections?
Well! Since Rajasthan has less than 1 percent Christian population, at
whom, according to Home Minister Gulab Singh Kataria, the architect of the
Bill, is aimed, “it was needed to check the activities of Christian
missionaries in certain parts of the State, especially in Kota”, there
is little chance that there will be any alteration to it.
Gujarat,
also BJP governed, is another State which passed such an unconstitutional
law earning Narender Modi among other things, the singular distinction of
being ‘a modern day Nero’, from no less an institution than the
Supreme Court. That the Gujarat government has not yet framed rules for
the said Bill or that so far no case either in Madhya Pradesh, Orissa or
Arunachal Pradesh of ‘forceful conversion’ or ‘conversion by
allurement or fraudulent means’ has come to light, is not really the
concern of BJP governments. It is enough that such Bills and Acts, come
handy to terrorize the minorities in general and the Christian
missionaries in particular, who are rendering selfless service to the most
neglected people in remote areas. It is also a useful tool to justify the
actions of the likes of Dara Singh. False allegations in the name of
‘conversion’ serve many purposes.
In
Rajasthan the Freedom of Religion Bill was spoken of ever since the BJP
government came to power in 2004 but it caught momentum after the
President of a certain Emmanuel Mission International (EMI), Bishop Samuel
Thomas was arrested from NOIDA last month along with an arrest warrant
issued against his father Archbishop M. A. Thomas, the founder of EMI.
Both of them are being held responsible for propagating a book called Haqueekat,
which allegedly contains material denigrating the Hindu religion, though
neither of them has either written or published the book. Though we have
not seen or read the book, we have, including me as the spokesperson of
the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese, condemned in public, all such material
containing insulting references to other religions or their believers.
There
are also hundreds of booklets and pamphlets in circulation all over,
particularly in North India, a bundle of which I have personally handed
over both to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the then
Home Minister Mr. L. K. Advani making highly derogatory remarks against
the Bible and Christianity. But is anyone, especially those working
overtime to introduce such Bills, bothered about their plight?
On
the one hand, we have the Sensex and the Nifty scaling new heights, in the
BJP ruled States, on the other hand, such retrograde laws are being
passed, targeting openly one particular Community. The Bill is so
ludicrous and contradictory, to say the least, that it allows people to go
back to their ‘original religion’, without attracting any punitive
action.
Even
if no one wants to listen to the constant shrill of the Christian
Community in despair that it is not involved in any ‘mass conversion’,
people are urged to believe at least the official Census of India showing
a clear decline of Christian population in the last four decades, down
from 2.6% to being just 2.3% at the last count.
But
how does one convince a completely biased lot which is not only totally
closed to see the ‘truth’ but which keeps harping on the two constant
refrains against minorities, that of ‘minority appeasement’ (now
riding on Advani’s Rath) and that of ‘mass conversion’ (on
Rajnath’s Rath). That the Hindu voter, however, has become much wiser
than those hardliners who get such draconian bills passed, has been proved
by the result of the last elections and the poor attendance right now at
the two Rath Yatras.
It
was in order to boost the attendance around the Raths that the new BJP
President Rajnath Singh lashed out at the Christian missionaries in
Chattisgarh boasting, “as soon as I became the BJP President, I told all
my party chief ministers to enact laws to check conversions and foil the
designs of Christian missionaries”. He then went on to say that the
Jharkhand government was ready with the draft bill and Chattisgarh will
soon follow suit. He had no hesitation in spewing venom at the Christian
missionaries in the area. Both for Rajnath and Advani, and of course the
Sangh Parivar, this is what democracy is all about.
The
Catholic Church has clarified its position on conversion time and again as
well as in the documents of the Second Vatican Council, stating, “In
spreading religious faith… everyone ought at all times to refrain from
any manner of action which might seem to carry a hint of coercion or of a
kind of persuasion that would be dishonourable or unworthy, especially
when dealing with poor or uneducated people. Such a manner of action would
have to be considered an abuse of one’s own right and a violation of the
right of others” (cf. Declaration on Religious Freedom: no. 4. Vatican:
1965).
Similarly
Pope Benedict XVI in his recent and first encyclical Deus Caritas Est reiterates,
“Christian charitable activity must be independent of parties and
ideologies. It is not a means of changing the world ideologically…
Charity, furthermore, cannot be used as a means of engaging in what is
nowadays considered proselytism. Love is free; it is not practiced as a
way of achieving other ends” no. 31. b & c).
Such
laws go against the very spirit of Article 25 of the Constitution which
grants, “freedom of conscience and free profession, practice and
propagation of religion” to every Indian citizen and Article 18 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which India is a signatory,
stating, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and
religion: this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief and
freedom either alone or in community with others and in public or private,
to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice and worship and
observance”.
Among
the many painful experiences for Christians in the context of
‘conversion’ there are two important ones. One, that those who do not
understand the commandment of Jesus to “love one another as I have loved
you” (John 15: 12) and “Whatsoever you do to the least of my brothers
(sisters) that you do unto me” (Mt. 25: 40) completely misunderstand
their motive for acts of love. Two, that millions who have passed through
the Christian educational as well as other institutions and who were never
once given so much as a hint to convert to Christianity, never stand up in
their defense. The Archbishop Vincent M. Concessao of Delhi, however,
holds, “Nobody really believes their lies against Christians and
everyone is actually tired of them. Most people know that it is only a
political game to be played and contested in the political arena”. [05.05.06]
Fr
Dr Dominic Emmanuel is spokesman of the Delhi Catholic Archdiocese.
He may be contacted at frdominic@gmail.com
|
