Tactic of intimidation

The BJP MP Adityanath has said that the Babri Masjid demolition was a show of Hindu unity, and a similar show of unity is needed to ensure the ‘Ghar wapsi’ (return home) of all Christians, Muslims and other minorities in India. This statement – by a ruling party MP– brutally exposes the ‘Ghar wapsi’ project as one of communal violence, not ‘conversion’. This statement brazenly celebrates the Babri Masjid demolition (officially condemned by the BJP leadership so as to avoid criminal prosecution). And by comparing it with the Babri Masjid demolition, Adityanath makes it clear that ‘Ghar wapsi’ is no benign invitation to embrace Hinduism — it is intended to demolish the dignified existence and rights of religious minorities in India.        

The very premise of the term ‘Ghar wapsi’ is unconstitutional and communal. With ‘Ghar wapsi’, the VHP, blessed by the ruling BJP, is putting into practice the ‘Ramzada’ principle articulated by Modi minister Niranjan Jyoti. Niranjan Jyoti said that Muslims and Christians in India must accept Hindu origins and identity as ‘sons of Ram’ to prove that they accept India. Behind this statement is the pet dream of the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha — that India be turned into a Hindu nation, where non-Hindus will be treated as ‘foreigners’ and denied citizenship.

‘Ghar wapsi’ implies exactly the same thing: that Islam and Christianity are ‘foreign’ to India; that Hinduism is the ‘home faith’ of all Indian Muslims and Christians who must now ‘return home’ to the Hindu faith! The fallacy of this proposition is further exposed by the fact that the RSS outfits conduct ‘Ghar wapsi’ of the adivasis — who were animists, never Hindus.

Modi himself has endorsed and promoted this communal idea. During the Lok Sabha campaign, in an interview to a TV channel, he said that the anti-conversion law in Gujarat applies to those who seek to convert Hindus to Islam or Christianity — ‘Ghar wapsi’ is not conversion, he said, since it is a ‘return’ to the ‘home’ faith. 

The ‘Ghar wapsi’ campaign is not just violent in theory; it has been violent in practice too. In Agra, poor migrant Muslims were told that they would get Below Poverty Line (BPL) ration cards only if they converted to Hinduism. The same happened in villages in Bastar in October this year also, where elected panchayats with BJP leaders passed edicts banning non-Hindu religious practices, and prohibiting BPL rations for Christian adivasis, in order to pressure them to agree to ‘Ghar wapsi.’ How can BPL rations — an entitlement provided by the government to the poor citizens — be restricted to those willing to pledge allegiance to the majority faith? 

Moreover, in Agra, a menacing threat was used to get the Muslims to participate in the ‘Ghar wapsi’ programme. The poor Muslims are mostly Bengali-speaking migrants — a community that has been at the receiving end of campaigns by the VHP and even by Modi himself, branding them as ‘Bangladeshi infiltrators’. This fear was used to terrorise the Bengali-speaking Muslim migrants in Agra to participate in the ‘Ghar wapsi’ ceremony. The choices before them were clear: either be branded as Bangladeshi infiltrators and hounded out, or accept Hindu identity in order to qualify for the entitlements of food rations and housing!

Significantly, Adityanath felt the need to clarify that those who had ‘returned home’ would be allotted the caste status of their ancestors! By doing so, he revealed the inconvenient truth, that caste status is crucial to the structure of Hindu society. The insidious, discriminatory hierarchy of caste cannot be shed completely even when one exits the Hindu faith. And if you ‘return’, you’ll be slotted back into your ‘original’ position in the caste hierarchy. Ironically, Adityanath’s words about caste also inadvertently indicate that the Sangh’s propaganda about conversions to Islam or Christianity having taken place ‘at the point of the sword’ is a lie. In fact, those from the oppressed castes converted to Islam, Christianity and Buddhism and so on in a bid to escape the stranglehold of caste. It is another matter that caste (that is inextricably interwoven with class in India) has persisted in most religions in India.

Confronted with the facts about the intimidation and fraud used in the Ghar wapsi episode in Agra, the BJP has responded by mooting an anti-conversion law. BJP and Sangh supporters have responded to condemnation of the Ghar wapsi campaign by asking why conversions to Christianity or Islam are not similarly condemned. This question itself is fallaciously framed. In fact, conversions of various kinds — to one or the other Hindu sect or to other faiths — take place in India without any incident.

Persuading someone to convert to one’s faith, propagating one’s faith, or choosing to change one’s faith, is a democratic right, enshrined in the fundamental rights of Indian citizens. The reasons for why a person converts from Hinduism to Christianity or Islam or Sikhism; or why a person switches their allegiance from a regular temple or gurudwara to a dera or a baba are complex. The reasons range from the promise of spiritual solace, social equality and dignity, to the more mundane, material benefits such as free food, health care or education, to a political choice.

The anti-conversion laws in Gujarat and other states promote ‘Ghar wapsi’ while criminalising the work of Christian missionaries, who are rendered forever suspect of offering ‘inducements’ or ‘lures’ to convert. Are the schools or health care services offered by Christian institutions to the destitute, a ‘lure’ to convert? How are they different from the Deras in Punjab offering free de-addiction services to the poor Dalit labourers; or gurudwaras, temples and mosques offering free meals; or the Sai Baba running hospitals? 

A (Hindu) acquaintance was offended when approached by evangelical Christians preaching that Jesus would help him weather a tough phase in his life. I asked him if he would feel similarly offended if a Hindu priest were to have promised him relief from his worries if he were to perform a puja? Do the Satyanarayanakathas involve a series of tales warning people of dire consequences if they refuse to perform the katha? Are these not instances of fear and fraud being used to make people perform certain religious rituals? Why is there outrage only when those of another faith preach their faith? It is amply clear that all faiths, including the Hindu faiths, offer services and promises alike, to draw people closer to their particular faith. Criminalising conversion to a minority faith – as the anti-conversion laws do – do violence to the fundamental right of every person to choose or change religion for any reason of their choice.

The idea that the faith one if born into is somehow one’s authentic, chosen identity, while ‘conversion’ is ‘forced’, is a strange one. In fact, one does not choose the religion one is born into. As an adult, one’s faith, like one’s politics or one’s other beliefs, is a conscious choice. 

Intimidation, coercion, threats as well as humiliation used to force people to change their religion should be prosecuted and punished under the provisions of laws against communal violence and the Prevention of Atrocities Act, as they may apply. These are the laws that must be invoked against the perpetrators of ‘Ghar wapsi’ in Agra and elsewhere.

The writer is secretary, All India Progressive Women’s Association