By Albert Thyrniang
Last week there was a column in this newspaper asking whether prayer in public spaces is anathema. The author states that there have been a number of articles in this paper criticizing the ‘Christian MDA 2.0 leaders’ for inviting church leaders to bless them on the swearing in ceremony. Since the author has neither mentioned any article nor named any writer this response too is here sans names.
Let us address the question head on. Prayer in government premises and government establishments should be forbidden. An exception may be made to government schools and other educational institutions. Prayers can held during the Assembly but these prayers should be neutral using only terms like ‘Creator’, ‘Almighty’, ‘Supreme Being’ which are generally universally acceptable. Prayers should be completely non-denominational. This is not to say that prayers are bad but they are out of place in government premises. Government establishments belong to all. Everyone has a claim over these institutions. It is best they remain completely neutral and secular. Prayers can be held elsewhere. There is no dearth of such places. The Secretariat and the Assembly are the mother of all other public institutions. They are the temples of democracy and secularism. These are institutions to promote and defend democracy and secularism. How can prayers, Christians or otherwise, be held in them? Once that is done democracy and secularism and the Constitution itself are desecrated! These are democratic institutions and not churches, temples, pagodas or mosques. They are the property of all the people of the state and not of any community. They certainly do not belong to the majority religion.
Public spaces also include roads, parking facilities, stadia, etc. These places are also used for public gathering, demonstration and protests. Permissions are granted for such assemblies. Religious gatherings are also allowed in government stadia. Those who assemble in these places may well pray. There is no bar. But I suppose religious functions are strictly banned in the chief minister’s official residence, the Secretariat, Assembly, etc. Then why the special privilege for the ministers and MLAs? It is potently unconstitutional! If the court is approached, in all likelihood a ban will be imposed.
Church leaders were never shown in bad light. However, they did lead prayers in the twin locations. Their presence is in the public domain. They might not have committed any crime but impropriety is the question. Pointing to the fact is not toxic. It is in fact the misuse of religion for political purposes which is currently a very toxic issue. In Nagaland, during the oath taking ceremony of the chief minister, a pastor prayed, ironically, for secularism to prevail, in Jesus’ name. A choir was then sung on ‘Alleluia Christ the king.’ The ‘Christian’ swearing in function was in the presence of the prime minister himself. This is to show that the BJP is not anti-Christian. In Meghalaya too instructions might have come from Delhi to organise prayer service to demonstrate that the saffron party is not against Christians. This is a trap. This has given legitimacy to the Sangh Parivar to propagate their Hindutva agenda. This ideology could be happily saying, “We permitted you to display your Christianity in Nagaland and Meghalaya, don’t bother us if we exhibit ours in the mainland India.”
On March 20, there was a hard hitting article in a national weekly entitled, “Betraying Christ and Constitution,” which attacked the BJP for hypocritically attempting to bring in Christians to its side and lambasted Christian leaders, Christians and politicians for warming up to the ‘communal party’ while anti-Christian activities continue unabated. It is quoted, “Sadly, several Christian politicians (and surely some people too) were trapped into playing the ‘religion’ card… Having a pastor pray and a choir sing a Christian song has only made it easier for the BJP to give legitimacy for Hindu rituals at Government functions and thus to effectively destroy the secular fabric of the country. Of course, several Christians, (who hardly bother about Constitutional propriety and the severe repercussions such so-called ‘Christian’ acts would have on the future of the country) went ‘ga-ga’ when they watched clippings of the Nagaland swearing-in ceremony; there was a similar response when the Chief Minister of Meghalaya (organised a prayer service for his minister and MLAs and) went to Valankanni; those who cheered him did not care a hoot for the fact that the CM has literally sold his state to a fascist regime.”
Prime Minister, Narendra Modi might have inaugurated the Kartavya Path with Hindu bhajan and prayers. When the new Parliament building is inaugurated Hindu pujaris may well offer prayers. But it does not mean we do the same. Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, atheists and the rest should also be able to firmly tell the Prime Minister that in a secular country this is not done. Christian political leaders in Nagaland and Meghalaya will no longer have the credibility to so do. Church leaders in Meghalaya and Nagaland will no longer have the authority. The Prime Minister is only a face. The mastermind is the sangh ideology which wants to establish a majoritarian rule in the country. This majoritarianism precisely says that the majority community will decide what to do. All the rest should be subservient to it. At the national level the will of this majority will prevail. Others may even be considered second class citizens.
Those who rejoice at the events in Nagaland and Meghalaya will have no more say because here we also insist that since Christians are the majority others will have to just watch what we do in public institutions. We may belong to a region but we also have a national role to play. We cannot say that since we can do what we want in the North East we should be indifferent to the national narrative. We cannot be unconcerned if secularism is vitiated nationally. We will resist only if we don’t possess the majoritarian attitude in our own settings.
It is astonishing that examples of politicians in UP and other Hindu dominated states going to temples are cited. No one has the right to question them from doing so. Here in Meghalaya too politicians can go to churches as often as they wish. There is absolutely no issue if politicians go to any places of worship seeking blessings. No one has ever stated that they can’t do so. Objections are raised only when they welcome religious leaders to the most secular spaces in the state. Criticism is warranted only because there are also non-Christians in the state. They may be minorities but they are also equal partners in the state. This is a question of respect for all faiths and not being fastidious (not fidgety). If we expect others to defend our rights as Christians at the national level we have to do the same in our state. It goes both ways. It is quite amusing that the author bats for an ‘interfaith prayer session’ in parliament since MPs are of different faiths while he sees nothing wrong with the Christian prayer in the Secretariat and CM’s residence as if all the MLAs and more importantly all voters are Christ’s followers.
Yes Hindu fundamentalists destroy churches and mosques. Christian religious services were disrupted. These are certainly against the enshrined secular values. That is exactly the reason why we should see the blatant hypocrisy of the BJP. In Nagaland where the Christian population is around 90% the BJP happily legitimised beef eating whereas ‘in most parts of India they and their ilk lynch and kill minorities even if the latter just happen to ferry a cow in a vehicle’. In Meghalaya, where beef consumption is common, the BJP president also declared that he too eats beef. The BJP even used ‘Alleluia’ and ‘Praise the Lord’ songs in their campaigns in Nagaland. Instead of detecting this double standard we are partnering with the national party.
Today in the North Eastern States the BJP is calling the shots. It is also setting the political agenda even in Meghalaya where it has only two legislators. One of the reasons is because politicians, including Christians, are corrupt and hence ‘the BJP can exploit that to their advantage’. The church too should speak out against corruption. Now that prayers are publicly showered on the government, the church has to be silent on corruption. It was a pre-planned arrangement to shut the mouth of the Church amidst corruption charges, the flourishing of the ‘high level tribe’ and the illegalities.
Secularism may be a foreign concept. Democracy is foreign. Christianity too is foreign. But these have become part and parcel of our lives. They are here to stay. It is repeated that Secularism is not anti-religion. It favours no particular religion. The prime minister, chief ministers and religious leaders have the responsibility to preserve this tenet of democracy.