U.S. criticism of India right on target
NEW DELHI: The most damning information provided by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, whose annual report dwells at length on India, is not New Delhi's lack of suitable response to persecution of minorities, but that the government refused permission to visit this country for a first- hand assessment.
Indian officials will be quick to point out that refusing such requests is "proper" since the alternative is tantamount to infringement of sovereignty. This has been the official argument of every government every time and everywhere. And usually the apprehension has meant that government has something serious to hide. Conversely, governments confident of their own record grant permission for outside scrutiny as a matter of form, or even indifference.
New Delhi's refusal to allow the U.S. Commission to visit India, therefore, shows pretty much conclusively that it loses sleep thinking what the Americans may find -- for example, if they were to talk to Christian priests and poor Christians in Gujarat villages.
The ugly reality the Indian government wants to hide from U.S. lawmakers however poses a far bigger problem for this country itself. Which is that to date the NDA government, especially the BJP, has not been able to take a firm line on provocative religious activism.
The policy should be clear. Any individual or any group has the right to preach, proselytize, cajole and convince but no one can take the battle of faith into the arena of violence and intimidation.
On that front the Center as well as BJP state governments have failed miserably. Because the crossing of the acceptable line has always been done by Hindu organizations. Consider this hypothetical situation: if Christian missionaries started attacking temples and forcibly converting Hindus, would a BJP state government and the Center take days to issue a painfully cautious statement, and then take months to identify the perpetrators, as happens every time Sangh fanatics go on a rampage.
Surely not. Then how come the arsonists, rioters and, in some cases, killers targeting Indian Christians have not been brought to justice; not even one of them, unless one considers Dara Singh the elaborate farce after Graham Staines was brutally murdered.
These questions will not go away simply because the government disallows Americans a fact-finding visit. Indeed the report of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom makes it clear that a certain strong and entirely rational perception about current official treatment of minorities have gained ground outside India. This wasn't the case before, and the fact that it is now, is squarely the BJP-led government's responsibility and fault.
On this matter, the current government has reduced India to the level of countries long infamous for undemocratic polities and institutionalized persecution. The U.S. Commission says that it does not find the government directly responsible in the sense that there are no official orders for treating minorities differently. Remember, there were no official orders to demolish the Babari Masjid either.
-- The Statesman/Asia News Network