Chief Justice of India TS Thakur’s statement during a book release in New Delhi Sunday that the relationship between man and God is very personal and should be nobody’s business is pertinent.
The statement has been made against the backdrop of increasing intolerance that is evident on a day-to-day basis. This is raising apprehensions of a society divided on communal lines.
The Chief Justice has pointed out that more lives have been lost in religious wars than those over political ideologies. The scale of destruction and bloodshed in such wars is unmatched.
India has one of the most diverse religious backgrounds. The concept of secularism thus holds a very important place in our society and maintaining this secular spirit is essential to maintaining harmony in this country of a billion plus people.
Freedom to practise any religion forms a very important part of the Constitution, which firmly states that all religions are equal before law. Interestingly, even the USA, after Donald Trump’s victory is facing similar kind of a divide. Islamophobia, homophobia, racism and sexism are on the rise in that country.
Religious freedom is presently in a precarious state across the globe. In the past few years, six states of the country have enacted laws that ban conversions that are the result of “force, allurement or fraudulent means”.
On many occasions, right wing Hindoo groups have alleged that people of other faiths, particularly Christians, are doling out free medical care and education to lure poor people into converting to their faiths. This kind of religious conversion has been criticised for creating another kind of divide in rural areas — between the newly-haves and the have-nots.
However, this divide is no more limited to religion any longer. The politicians’ belief of keeping people divided has spread its tentacles beyond mere worship. Caste, till recent times, played out a major role in deciding political fortunes.
That stage has been kept occupied by some very competent contestants. The unavailability of traditional political space has forced the new forces to revisit and try to carve out new areas which could be influenced.
This fresh quest must have convinced those thinkers that an all-encompassing divide would surely have to depend on something much more tangible and readily available for every individual citizen to bear fruit.
This divide therefore naturally had to depend on economy. An economic divide has far greater reach and strength than any other. This divide, in today’s world, is probably the single biggest force that crosses barriers of race, religion and geography.
The story of the so called ‘Communist’ regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia is a great example. Professing to fight for the poor, Saloth Sar (nom de guerre was Pol Pot) led the Khmer Rouge to power in April 1975.
This self-appointed leader became very infamous for his ‘killing fields’. He wiped out not only the rich but also the educated and entrepreneurial class. The brutality of the Khmer Rouge scarred the Kampuchean nation deep.
Even decades after being vanquished, the damage caused to the social fabric by the Khmer Rouge has pushed that nation back to penury for a long time to come. Again, interestingly, in Kampuchea too the intellectuals and the poor peasants praised and supported Pol Pot during his efforts to grab complete power over their nation.
He played with all the economic tools at his command to make his country kneel. The poverty stricken population was overjoyed when he initially targeted only the rich. The change occurred when external forces were compelled to intervene to bring about a semblance of human rights in that society.
In today’s world, every nation needs to be careful while cheering a leader who shows great conviction in changing economic orders. Breaking down
any system is easy. Restructuring or creating from an existing foundation
is a lot more difficult. A nation that may fall in this 21st century may not
rise up so easily.
