“Singh is King”

Thanking God for the Life of Mr. VP Singh

The sudden demise of Mr. Vishwanath Prathap Singh, the former Prime Minister of India on 27th November 2008 creates a vacuum in the modern political history of India, for his ardent fighting spirit for the cause of the social liberation and transformation, cannot be filled or replaced. His death comes on a day when the NSG Commandos in Mumbai are fighting against the terrorists in saving several citizens, who had been held captive, in an outrageous terrorist attack in the country.

This fighting spirit of the commandos’ parallels with the life of MR. VP Singh, who all through his life had fought against forces of evil with out any fear. The people of India cannot forget the great soul Mr. Singh, for his creative and innovative visions and plans in transforming the society. He remains immortal by his initiative to implement the recommendations of the Mandal Commission, which brought the Backward Castes into the main fray in the political scenario. His straight forwardness did not yield him power for long tenures and always held the image of ‘Mr. Clean’ all through his political career. If his tenure had continued for long, the long pending just struggle of Christians of Dalit origin in granting them Scheduled Caste Status would have been ensured.

He is also the one who spiritualised politics, when he went to Punjab seeking open forgiveness for the ‘Operation Blue star ‘, by arresting Mr. LK Advani, who was on his ‘rathyatra’ to Ayodhya. He did had that courage and boldness in being firm on his beliefs and values for justice, and least cared for the consequences to follow, where even his government had to fall by the withdrawal of support from BJP.

Long before, he joined the politics; he had been a pioneer in donating huge lands to the landless peasants as part of the ‘Bhoodhan Movement’, which reveals his virtues of selflessness and beliefs in equality, countering greed.

Today’s politicians have a lot to learn and follow from the life and leadership of Mr. Singh. His leadership skills, his passion for the cause of social justice, his desire for equality and his courage in countering any force that forges justice and peace have made an indelible impact on our country’s credibility and rich heritage. When the present political arena has been rotted to sub-standards, Mr. Singh becomes an icon, to whom the politicians can look up to in gaining strength and courage in being firm for the cause of justice. When the whole fraternity of politicians from across the nation stand up to salute the man with values and virtues, we the people of India lose a great statesman and an ideal leader of our times. Mr. Singh, we the India will miss you and we the India shall live up to the visions and directions of your leadership and promise that we shall carry forward the rich legacy, you have left. We thank God for the life and leadership of Mr. VP. Singh, and express our condolences to the bereaved family. Mr. VP Singh, you are truly a king!

The Wisdom of God is Christ

“ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” I Cor 1: 24.

Today’s world witnesses several inhuman activities, which emerge from the foolishness and ignorance of the people who are responsible towards it. Violence, terrorism, attacks on the religious and linguistic minorities etc. all piles up to show the dark side of the human mind. To be filled with the wisdom of God is the only rescue we have at hand. But how do we decipher the wisdom of God?

Paul in writing to the Corinthian church gives us a clue that Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. There is no other clue to understand the wisdom of God but through the words & works of Jesus Christ, who was revealed as the Logos to this world. Jesus Christ’s presence of mind, application of thought, and quick actions all exhibit the wisdom of God to our histories. Born as the prince of peace, Christ demonstrated peace by healing, transcending the religious boundaries and by associating himself with least among the society. Christ’s way of peace is not a passive one, rather an active one, which tries to counter the forces of violence and thereby paves the way to peace. Christ is a peacemaker, peace builder and he himself if the peace and wisdom of God.

To address the violent situations in our times, we need to organise like Christ, who is the wisdom of God in bringing peace to our times. If Christ is the peacemaker of his times, we as joint heirs with him needs to be peacemakers for our times. Christ by being the wisdom of God paves the way to the kingdom of God. Therefore we need to follow Christ in all his footsteps, so that we become wise, act wise and remove all vices of our society. May the wisdom of God, who is Christ fill us all with the wisdom so that we live and let other live with the values of the kingdom of God.

If Christ is the wisdom of God, can we an extension to Christ?

My Memoirs of Diwali…

The whole world celebrates today in all lights and colours as Diwali, commemorating the victory of Satyabhama over Narakasura, as the victory of good over evil. May I take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy Festival of Lights, the Diwali. May we all get challenged to become agents of good striving for a victory over evil in our times and localities.

Diwali, brings to me several reminiscences from my childhood. The happiness in shopping crackers during this season, the joy in firing the crackers, the awe in watching several fireworks in the skies, and the list goes on, had always made lasting impressions on me and on my upbringing. Diwali gave the opportunity to eat some good recipes with my friends at their homes and also gave us an occasion to watch films. They were real good times of childhood spent in all innocence and happiness.

Diwali, is memorable for me, besides all these happy moments, for yet another reason, which always kept me to be on my heels. In the school, Hindi language as subject was introduced in my eighth standard and Hindi was always a nightmare for me. For it was a total new & foreign language to be learnt at that stage from the alphabets, and for some reasons I could not cope learning Hindi as I did the other subjects. The friends in the class who were doing really well in Hindi, had been learning it by watching Hindi programmes in the television at home. We had television at home only when I reached to my tenth standard and had a very little access to the television for that privilege of watching Hindi programmes. At the background of this canvas, an essay on ‘Diwali’ was a compulsory essay that always appeared in our question papers in all most every standard. I always had tough time in attempting to write the essay on Diwali in Hindi, and as follows, I had a very poor scoring in Hindi. My Hindi teacher always had a red face on reading my script, specially my essay on Diwali made her much more infuriated. The reason was, I had a good introduction for my essay in Hindi and from second paragraph I was explaining the festival using Telugu (my mother tongue) vocabulary in Hindi script. My Hindi teacher was on top of her voice, and had to warn me to be serious in learning Hindi language. So no Diwali goes for me with out remembering my Hindi teacher and my essay on Diwali in Hindi language. I still remember my essay, it goes this way, “…Deepavali, Hinduyom ka ek pramuk thyohar hi…. Is thyohar me sarvejan chichbuds or kakarpovaths kalchenge…”

The other experience I had with Diwali, is the dilemma created by my Christian folks in my locality, that Diwali is unchristian and Christians should not celebrate it. So at some point in my childhood, we had to be mere spectators of the festivity and lights, remaining at home. Though all our minds were on the festival and crackers, our eyes and ears had to be closed to all of it. But over the years, I realised the importance of the festival, the victory of good over evil and now make sure to participate in this rich festival of our Hindu friends. Now I feel how Christian it is to participate in our neighbours festivals, share with them the joy and community living.

Diwali builds community spirit and community living, and no one community should isolate from such community building festivals. Festivals add colour to life, and festival of lights adds grace and light to the communities in India. In this context of growing religious fundamentalism and religious fanaticism, festival of lights provide a space for friendship and fellowship among people of all faiths. Hatred among faiths is on the rise, and Diwali bridges that gaps among faiths and among people with love and sharing.

May this Diwali bring cheers and happiness to life. Wishing you all a very happy Diwali, and long live community living and community spirit!

Life Beyond Kandhamal for Dalit Panos

Relocation as an Option

As the situation in Kandhamal is uneasily calm after about two months of violence on Dalit Pano Christians, most of these survivors of the brutal violence are perplexed to think life beyond these incidents. On the one hand if they have to return back to their houses from the relief camps, they have to face the threat of being re-converted to Hinduism or face the ultimate consequences of it. On the other hand the district administration is slowly trying to persuade them to get back to their villages and start life, as they appear to be normal. Dalit Pano Christians are caught up between these two options before them.

These Dalit Pano Christians are firm in their faith for they believe in no turning back from their Christian faith and are ready to bear the consequence for it, for they have been experiencing the price for embracing Christianity in their lives. There is clarity in their position with regard to their locus standing of their faith, for they believe in a God of freedom and also affirm their Constitutional right in expressing their freedom of choosing a religion of their own choice and conscience.

To return back to their broken, burnt and destroyed houses in their villages, these Dalit Pano Christians are reluctant for they have been witnessing a series of violence, and expect much more to come in the future. When the destroyed houses of the December violence were rebuilt again, the august violence on them sprouted and their houses and property were again either burnt to ashes or destroyed. So these people knew that there is no longer safety in these villages of theirs and have been urging the government to relocate them to other places and villages in Orissa. Their no confidence in the district administration makes them to ask for a re-location. Their fear psychosis to live in terror and bloodshed makes them to ask for relocation. Their suburbs flooded with the Sangh aggression makes them to ask for relocation.

These Dalit Pano Christians ask for relocation not in all willingness, joy and pleasure. With great despair and out of compulsion, for there is no other option left for them but for relocation. Imagine the plight of these people; their tears knew no bounds. They are asking for a relocation at the expense of their homeland, where they were born, brought up, nurtured, lived for years and experienced community living with people of all faiths. They are asking for relocation at the expense of forgoing their ancestral lands, to which they have been so deeply attached with. They are asking for relocation at the expense of their deep-rooted sentiments of their own land with the ethos of the rich cultural setting they have been used to. They are asking for relocation at the expense of the rich flora and fauna they enjoyed with and by distancing from the historical indigenous traditions that evolved from their lands.

Despite all these reasons, is relocation a possibility for these Dalit Pano Christians? Will the government authorities listen to their pleas? The government can relocate them as a community and grant them pattas, land documents in other areas of the State, but all that is required is a political will for doing it. Earlier when the Church delegations have met the Chief Minister of Orissa and the Home Secretary of Orissa, they have promised to relocate the communities that have been badly affected, based on the requisitions made by those communities. Therefore, the State government has to keep up its word and relocate the affected communities to a safe place, providing them all the requirements of land, shelter and job.

If normalcy is to be required in this violent district in Orissa, relocation is a necessity that can help the communities that have witnessed violence and bloodshed. The role of the civil societies in this direction will be to pressurise the State government to relocate these communities to a safe and secure place within the State. Earlier stories of rehabilitation done to the displaced people in India has a record of providing lands that were unfertile and barren, where livelihood is not a possibility. May the State government in Orissa, keep in mind to provide relocation to these ethno-communally affected people at a land that is fertile and safe. May relocation not make these communities isolated, but may they imbibe the community building mechanisms to live in peace and harmony.

Am I my Neighbour’s Keeper?

A Call to Christians for Solidarity…

For the last few weeks, there has been clash among communities either in the name of ethnicity or religion and the ideology of conflict and the concept of hatred have been reaping greater fruits in this whole saga of violence. Innocent victims had to pay the price in this whole episode. What Samuel Huntington has predicted the ‘Clash of Civilisations’, probably is taking its deep roots with the clash of faiths, clash of interests and clash of cultures as its manifestation.

Ongoing Violence
The violent episode in Orissa, which has been unabated for the last seven weeks, though there has been an uneasy calmness during last one week, resulted in the killings of nearly fifty people, the majority happen to be Dalit Christians. Nearly ten people died in the communal violence in a village Bhainsa, Adilabad district, Andhra Pradesh during last week, the victims had been from the Muslim minority community. Nearly fifty-one people died in the violence in Assam during last few weeks in Udalguri and Darrang districts in Assam dodged by clashes between Bodos and Bangladeshi migrants, where the victims are the Tribals. Besides these major incidents, there have been reported communal violence in the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Gujarat etc. Incidents of terrorism and bomb blasts continue to rock both the urban and the rural India, violence has crept into all corners of the Indian society.

Ongoing Solidarity
Time and again, it has been emphasised that the civil society needs to vigilant in building peace and harmony in times of crisis and build solidarity to communities that have been affected. Violence on any community is not a mere attack on that community, rather they are violation of human rights and a breach of citizenship guaranteed by the Constitution on India. Even the National Integration Council, which met on the 13th October 2008, under the auspices of the Ministry of Home affairs in New Delhi discussed and interacted on communal violence, and observed that the unity among different cultures in India has been tarnished by these acts of violence. On a whole the solidarity to the communities affected, particularly to the Christians in Orissa is tremendous and we as Christians need to profusely thank the solidarity that we have received from all quarters of the world, from all religious communities and from people of all walks of life. We as Christians also need to thank the solidarity systems and the pressure exerted both by the local and international friends put on the governments to intervene pro-actively, though they haven’t really could contain the violence. We as Christians need to thank all the responsible citizens of this country from all faiths, who walked with us during protest rallies, peace rallies, condemning the violence as breach on Indian secularism and for all those who stood by us in times of crisis and violence on Dalit Christians and Christians in India. We also need thank media, for airing the immediate incidents as an when happening, for exposing the inefficiency of the government machinery and for not being biased in their coverage of the violence, though few media people had reported it in their right-ideological perspective.

Am I my Neighbour’s Keeper?
But the real question that comes into light is, “Where are we Christians, in expressing our solidarity when the Muslims in Andhra Pradesh have been killed? Where are we Christians, in expressing our solidarity, when the Bodo Tribals have been killed in Assam? Where are we Christians, in expressing our solidarity, when Muslims have been killed in Gujarat?” These questions come at a time when we had the privilege of the solidarity from other people of faith, responsible citizens of India and from committed Human Rights activists and agencies, from across the world. Leave about the reason, since they have been in solidarity, so we should also be, but are we as Christians not called to be in solidarity with all those that are oppressed and attacked violently? What happened to our role as ‘Good Samaritans’, which we often preach and are boasting about, when our co-citizens are killed and attacked? Was not Jesus Christ in solidarity with those from other communities and cultures during his times? If we as Christians are silent at a time like this, I fear that our moral responsibility as citizens of India is at stake and I also fear our calling, as Christians will lose its savour and character. It is high time, that we need to join the civil society in expressing their solidarity with the bruised communities, with the wounded communities and with the communities who are in deep distress and despair at a time like this of now.

A Call for Solidarity
Therefore, now the calling for us Christians is to stand by those survivors of violence, express our solidarity and try to exert pressure on the government in ensuring safety and protection to all its citizens. As Christians, as Churches, let us engage with the civil society in countering the forces of religious fundamentalism, communalism, casteism and all ethnic conflicts. Let us all dedicate as Christians to be the ambassadors of peace and harmony, to be the ones initiating peace-building measures in our communities and to be responsible citizens of India. We as Christians need to be the apostles of secularism and democracy. We as Christians need to love our neighbours as we love our communities and ourselves. If we as a faith-based community can be a channel for promoting peace, secularism, national integration, unity, justice, and liberation, only then can we fulfil the calling as Christians. Let our voices be heard on behalf of all those victims, irrespective of their religion, region and caste. Only when we Christians stand with those affected people now, tomorrow we can expect their solidarity and support. Let us not escape the crisis, but let us be in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in other faith communities, who have been attacked and killed.

Let us be reminded with the words of Pastor Martin Niemöller who said
"In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up."

Arise, Awake & Act…

Last week also had witnessed several oscillations in the Orissa carnage on Dalit Christians and the situation has not progressed to any better. For a quick scroll on the important happenings with regard to Orissa situation here is the precursor. The discussion in the Union Cabinet on the 7th October 2008 to ban the right wing terrorist outfit the Bajarang Dal, did not end up banning it, for the Prime Minister deferred the decision. A small team of Union ministers to be sent to Orissa to engage the Naveen Patnaik government in Orissa to persuade it to end violence against Dalit Christians, PM’s proposed visit to Orissa after the Puja festival, no unanimity in imposing the President’s rule in Orissa and meeting of Mr. L.K. Advani, the Leader of BJP Party with the Catholic leaders along on the initiative made by Swami Chidananda Saraswati were some of the other important issues in the week on Orissa.

Saffron Terror
When the Union cabinet discussed banning of Bajrang Dal, which has been mainly instrumental for the killings, arson and violence on Dalit Christians in Orissa, it was reported that the Prime Minister deferred the decision as there was no unanimity among their leaders and coalition partners. On the contrary, the Congress Party makes some hypocritical statements from within to ban Bajrang Dal for its uncontrolled inhuman activities. If Congress Party was so firm in the ban, they should have pushed the Prime Minister towards it or the Prime Minister should not have deferred the decision to ban since it was on the Congress Party’s agenda also. This again shows the lack of political will from both the Prime Minister and the Congress Party. Congress Party in getting support to its nuclear deal, even though Left, which was supporting from outside opposed it, sought for a consensus among its coalition partners and also rallied with new support from the Samajwadi Party in getting its agenda pushed at any cost. What happened to such a political will of Congress Party, which they showed during the Indo-US nuclear deal in banning Bajrang Dal? Could they not garner support for it? Whatever be the reason, one thing is clear that the Congress Party, which wants to appears to be secular is soft on Hindutva ideology and wants to appease both the victims and the perpetrators, which I think will lead to a fall at any time. And it is clear that Congress Party cannot ban neither the Bajarang Dal nor its ideology and activities and want to be neutral, which makes its secular credentials at stake. Congress Party is surely going to pay its price in the forthcoming elections for its softness in dealing the saffron terror in India.

Saffron Dialogue
If one extreme in the oscillation is not banning the Bajrang Dal the other extreme is the meeting Shri. L. K. Advani with the Church leaders, which surely calls the attention of all the citizens in India. It was reported that on the initiative made by Swami Chidananda Saraswati of Paramarth Nikethan, Rishikesh, that Archbishop of Delhi Vincent Concessao, Archbishop of Orissa Raphael Cheenath and Fr. Dominic Emmanuel from Delhi Catholic Archdiocese met Shri. L. K. Advani at his residence on the 8th October. A joint press statement was made by all these leaders, which condemned forced conversions and re-conversions and called it to be stopped. The statement also called on the Hindus and Christian leaders for Inter-Faith Dialogue, which should be held in the spirit of the report of the Inter- Faith Dialogue on Conversions, which was organised at the Vatican in May 2006 by the Pontifical Council for Inter- Faith Dialogue and the World Council of Churches, Geneva. Thanks to Shri. Advaniji for his gesture of meeting the Christian leaders and for calling on peace and harmony among all faiths in Orissa. Thanks also to Advaniji for affirming the code of condust as expressed in the Vatican and WCC documents on Conversion. Having said that, I am only surprised why Advaniji could not think of calling on the Christian leaders all these 45 days when violence was unabated. Why could not Advaniji call on the Christian leaders in Orissa, during his visit to Bhubaneswar in the last one-month? Why all of a sudden his deep concern to Christians at this juncture? If Advaniji is only eyeing for some political mileage by this dialogue, I am afraid such gestures as this without convictions for the cause may not be trustworthy and fruitful too. If Advaniji had such a concern on Christians, he could have as well told his Sangh Parivar to be controlled and not to attack the poor Dalit Christians in the name of religion. When nearly 50 people died, 310 villages affected, 15, 000 people forced to live in relief camps, nearly 4000 houses burnt and about 200 prayer houses and churches have been damaged and destroyed, and when after the damage has been made, why does Advaniji now think of Christians all of a sudden. Now that the damage has been made, Advaniji can only be a sympathetic visitor to the cause of Orissa.

Therefore, I would like to see the present Prime Minister and the projected Prime Minister to act swiftly and pro-actively, for attacks on Christians are not mere attacks on a religion, but they are attacks on the citizens of India and such an issue like this should have been dealt more securely and carefully. Violence on Dalit Christians is a breach of human rights and a violation of Constitutional rights and therefore needs to be addressed with much caution and sincerity. Unless the leaders come out of their individual political agendas, safety and security of the citizens in India will continue to be in peril. Let us all bind together to protect citizens from violence and attacks caused in the name of caste or creed. Arise, awake and act to save India.

A Violent Non-Violence Day

The whole world observed United Nations declared International Day of Non-Violence on the 2nd October 2008, commemorating the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the apostle of non-violence, organising several peace rallies, peace marches, walkathons etc. in protest against the on going violence and calling on all sections of people to preach, profess, propagate and practice peace. This was also the day when India’s three decades of nuclear apartheid has been wiped out, with the US Senate accepting & approving the 123 agreement, the Indo-US civilian nuclear agreement, which will allow access to US civil nuclear fuel and technology to be used for India’s ‘development’. On these two occasions, scores of people from across the latitudes and longitudes of the globe on the one hand committed to follow Gandhi, the Father of India, and his values of non-violence and on the other hand congratulated Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India for his bold decisions in striking the Indo-US nuclear deal, which appears to cater the needs of the people in India. It is far to realise how non-violent is this deal to the people in India.

On the contrary to these events and happenings, Dalit Christians in Kantamal block of Boudh district, a neighbouring one to the boiling Kandhamal in Orissa had to witness violent attacks on this non-violence day. Nearly 70 houses were burnt and several Pano Dalit Christians had to flee to forests to save their lives, when nearly 400 armed religious fundamentalists marched and attacked them in five villages. The police and the State machinery cannot any more be in deep slumber, though they continue to be, when Dalit Christians in Orissa have to be burnt in the furnace of casteism and communalism. What is non-violence to these our fellow Dalit Christians in Orissa? When the apartheids of caste, violence and fundamentalism are not addressed, what good it is for the Government of India to boast of its overcoming nuclear apartheid?

Dalit Christians in Orissa today have to bear the brunt of casteism and communalism from both ends, and had to be trampled under the cruel inhuman attitude of the religious fundamentalism. Dalit Christians are attacked because they happen to be Dalits, which is oppression in the name of caste. Dalit Christians are attacked because they happen to be Christians, which is discrimination in the name of religion. More over the violence on Dalit Christians is a sheer witness of the violation of their human rights, for freedom in all fronts has been curtailed.

The other grave concern that offshoots from the saga of violence in Orissa is the rift between Pano Dalits and the Khand Tribals, who are the indigenous people who share the common ethos & culture. With the advent of the outsiders into this land, Khand Tribals have been Hinduised and Pano Dalit have been Christianised, and in recent years religion happened to be the conflicting element in this region of Orissa, and whole series of violence in Orissa has taken the religious flavour to it. If issues like land, culture, reservation & conversion happens to be the core issues that have been dividing the indigenous people in Kandhamal, I presume that these issues need to be addressed on an indigenous table and not on a religious table, which thus far has been so. Let religion and religious people withdraw from flaring up the ongoing conflict among these communities, and let a Dalit-Tribal interface be organised, so that the issues can be spelt out, addressed and solved. Here comes the role of the civil society, responsible citizens and the inter-faith communities for they need to push for such an inter-face among Dalits and Tribals for they share many things in common. Such an interface will give an opportunity to work out the convergences between the two communities, to express their divergences and to work out creatively strategies that can sustain the indigenous nature of these communities. Once these conflicts are resolved, I trust the secular fabric will retain its credibility in India, and non-violence and non-violence days will have its relevance. Together lets dream and work to achieve a country where peace will be a sustained reality.