By Albert Thyrniang
In three days we celebrate Good Friday. The crucifixion and death of the most influential person is commemorated annually by world’s Christians a day before Easter. How is the tragic event called ‘Good Friday’? Why is the day of sorrow, penance, and fasting ‘good’? In what sense is the day that might have originated from ‘God’s Friday’ and is also known as “the Holy and Great Friday” good? Is it not difficult to see ‘good’ when a person was flogged, ordered to carry his own cross, crucified on it and put to death? Well, Christians strongly believe Christ died for their sins, offered his life to save humankind. He died that we may live. Everything was done for the ‘good’ of humanity.
Good Friday reminds us of one striking fact. Jesus died young. He died at the age of 33. Apparently he did accomplish much. He spent more than 90.9 per cent of his life in the obscurity of Nazareth. He appeared in the public scene at the age of 30, the age of maturity for the Jews. He worked only for three years. He died a shameful death. His life was a failure.
“(Everyone should) plant a tree, have a child, and write a book” is a famous quote that is wrongly attributed to Jose Martí, the Cuban revolutionary and poet. The phrase is actually an adaptation from the lines of a chapter of the early 1840s book entitled, The Ingoldsby Legends, or Mirth and Marvels. Speaking of three social duties the author, Thomas Ingoldsby (real name – Richard Harris Barham) says, “The first of the three is planting a tree, the next producing a book, then a baby!” The exhortation is because we are here on this planet only for a short time and therefore, the above ensures that we live long after we are gone.
Probably Jesus planted no tree. Neither did he father a child nor authored a book. But after two millennia he is the most remembered person. He is the most invoked name. He is believed to be the author of life, the ‘Word’ through whom human and living beings and the whole universe were created. He had no book in His name but volumes are written on Him. The Bible is the most printed, most sold and most read book primarily because of Jesus. Four Gospels (four editions of Jesus’s life) were written after His death. Saint Paul, the earliest New Testament writer despatched 13 epistles because of his ‘Lord’. The other books that complete the 27 books of the New Testament were brought out because of ‘Jesus of Nazareth’. Every person can certainly plant a tree, but not all can have a child and write a book yet one can still create history.
The Jewish leaders could not accommodate his ideals into their world view. They could not tolerate Him with a large following. Though his group was very much a minority it was seen as a threat. Therefore, the religious elites killed him. They thought with his death his ‘revolution’ would cease. It was not to be. His ‘successors’ were more energised. His disciples were more fervent. His followers were bolder after his death. Many were ready to die for their master. Kings and empires began to persecute Christians right from the first century. It did not work. Out of Palestine, from the 12 Apostles and 72 disciples (plus some more believers) Christianity spread world-wide numbering about 2.38 billion today.
In India, minorities have faced persecution ever since the right wing took over this country. In Karnataka Muslim traders were barred from doing business near temples. In Delhi meat shops were forced to shut down during the nine-day Navratri festival. Religious leaders openly called for genocide against Muslims. These are but the latest forms of harassment by Hindu bigots. Last December, in many places, Christians were stopped from celebrating Christmas. Know that persecution won’t be successful. We appreciate that India is a Hindu majority country, but a Hindu Rashtra is unacceptable. We value Hinduism but Hindu supremacy is rejected. We learn Hindu philosophy and theology but ‘ghar wapasi’ is out of the way.
Hindu supremacy is a reframe of Nazism. It is a ‘genocidal’ hatred for Muslims. Hindu nationalists are akin to Hitler who hated the Jews. Hindu nationalists are similar to white supremacists. The common roots of white supremacy and Hindu nationalism go back to the ‘superiority of the Aryan race’ in the 19th century. This dangerous thought is rampant in the Hindu nationalist camp and is now very much mainstream. Unless we resist and fight we will lose our religious freedom enshrined in the Constitution. This is a secular country and no religion is superior to others.
Hand in hand goes Hindi supremacy. There is a deliberate attempt to impose Hindi on others. There is a conscious effort to favour Hindi over other languages. And this is done very systematically. This is apparent in parliament. In February Piyush Goyal answered in Hindi to DMK MP’s question in English though the minister speaks English fluently. Tamil Nadu is one of the Hindi resistant states. Knowing this background Goyal’s action was an act of disdain.
Presiding over the 37th meeting of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee in Delhi, Amit Shah invoked Prime Minister Narendra to state that the medium of running the government is Hindi thus increasing the importance of the official language. Concretely this means policies, letters, notifications and even legislation will be written only in Hindi. All communications will be in Hindi. What will those who don’t know Hindi do? What will the Southern states do? Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, MK Stalin’s assessment that the move is a threat to the integrity and pluralism of the country is spot on. If implemented, the decision will cause widespread protests in states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and even Karnataka. It will widen the gap between the North and the South. It will create division and fragmentation.
The home minister also recommends that Hindi should be compulsory till class X. How will that work? What are the implications? Will students have to give up either English or the local language? If English gives way to Hindi opportunities will be lost. It is English that will make a person fly. Not Hindi. If local languages are sacrificed then roots are forgotten? This is what the Hindi chauvinists expect. Kill indigenous language with the heavy hand of Hindi.
The North East is an easy prey. Shah has already informed that all the eight North Eastern states have agreed to make Hindi compulsory till class X. The announcement means that all the chief ministers are in favour of this Hindi imposition. It is no secret that students of the region struggle with Hindi. If students are presented with the pressure of passing one more language it will compound the problem. It will be a nightmare for the majority. Failures will surge and dropout rates increase. The North political leaders usually go with the ruling party at the centre just for the sake of the flow of funds. They have no ideology. Without giving a thought to the interests of students and their states (communities) the diktat of centre is blindly accepted. In Meghalaya, only Ampareen Lyngdoh and Vincent Pala have opposed Amit Shah’s designs.
The chairman of the Parliamentary Official Language Committee also informed that nine tribal communities of the Northeast have converted the scripts of their dialects to Devanagari. This is another agenda of the RSS and others – to have all the languages changed to Devanagari. This is a sinister plan to keep the people backward. There is an ulterior motive to show down their progress. All the literature in Roman script has to be rewritten. It has to be started all over again. It will take generations to master the new script. One suspects that the delay in including Khasi and Garo in the eighth schedule of the constitution is because the two languages are not in Devanagari script. Sooner or later the reason will be plain to see.
Hindi is not the national language of India. However, the importance of the language is already in place. Why give undue favour to it at the expense of other languages? The reason for this Hindi imperialism is because in general Hindi speakers don’t follow other languages. This is the case with the present political leadership at the centre. They expect all others to speak their language while they make no effort to learn other languages. Let them also learn Tamil, Kanadiga, Telegu, Malayalam, Bengali and the North Eastern languages.
The Jewish leaders killed Jesus young. Homicide is not only physical. Striking down ideas, denying rights, negating liberty, imposing thoughts on others, despising lesser beings is also killing. This is the state in India today. India is a land of Ram, Hanuman, Buddha, Christ, Mohammed and all others. It is a home of multiple cultures and languages. It must remain so. Do not kill any of them.