BELATED as it is, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s breaking of his deafening silence on attacks on Christian churches and condemnation of religious conversions by force come as a welcome move. Modi has said that his government will ensure complete freedom of faith and guarantee the right of everyone to adopt or retain the religion of his or her choice. He has also affirmed that his government will not allow any religious group belonging to majority or minority communities to incite hatred against others. Union Minister Arun Jaitley has also echoed the same sentiments. The government has now to practise what it preaches. Development and sectarianism do not go hand in hand. All this comes in the wake of President Barack Obama’s denunciation of religious intolerance during his visit to India and the BJP’s total rout in the Delhi Assembly elections which gave the lie to the notion that hardline Hindutva could reap electoral dividends. Modi has now woken up to the fact that staunch fringe organizations are undermining the popularity of the NDA government. The BJP has no reason to subordinate its development agenda to RSS extremism. The Prime Minister himself has to live down the image he acquired during the Gujarat massacres of 2002.
President Obama for his part has to ensure that there is no backlash in the US. Hindu temples have been vandalized in the state of Washington and Seattle. There was an attack on a school nearby with anti-Muslim graffiti. There has been a spate of attacks on Hindu temples in the country during the past few months. President Obama’s stand against religious intolerance should go for the US as well.
