By Robert Clements
Protecting the Strong..!
This morning I received a video from Orissa of a church group who were stopped from worshipping by a police group. I watched as the church service was stopped by the police and the priest dragged to the police station. He was let off later, because the only reason he was taken was to harass him and cause fear among the parishioners.
But I want to move away from that scene as it is becoming increasingly common. I want to move across to why a majority community is bothered by minorities? Do the majority community realise they are just being hoodwinked, that fear is being imposed into their minds about issues which there is nothing to fear about?
Let’s take the ‘anti-conversion’ law that we hear so much about. Very often I go out of station and stay with a close friend of mine in his home. He does the same when he comes to my city. At his home, I open my Bible and pray in the guestroom he always throws open for me even as I know from the incense smells that waft to my room that either he or his wife are doing their pooja.
Many times in our discussions I bring references to the Bible, and he does the same from Hindu scriptures. Not once has he felt threatened by this or I by him.
Now comes an imaginary scene, the doorbell rings and a policeman at the door says to him, “Sir we have come to arrest your friend! He was trying to convert you!”
I can imagine my friend saying, “Do I look like a weak man?”
“No sir, it is not about you. It is about him!”
“No it is about me,” says my friend, “When you come to give me protection, you make me appear weak!”
In other words what the policeman is actually saying is, “We don’t feel you are strong enough to protect yourself!” That is exactly what these laws are actually saying, “We feel you are weak, so we want to spend taxpayers money in defending you!”
Is my friend really weak? On the contrary I feel that most Hindus in our country are strong in their faith, as even with Christians and Muslims ruling our nation for nearly five centuries and before that with Buddhism also being practiced by rulers, the impact was hardly felt!
And so, with Love- Jihad. What this law tells our women is, “You can’t control your hearts!” Really? Is that how your daughter or mine is? Do our women realise they are being called weak?
We are not weak but strong people! Strong enough to send a spacecraft to the moon. Learn to be discerning and realise that to distract us from real issues that we need to vote on, we are being made to fear shadows, from which we need no protection..!
But there are also those that get converted out of their own free will and those who marry out of love, well here’s another imaginary story for them:
The poor man who had converted from the religion of his forefathers to that of a so-called foreign god, stood in front of a judge in a courtroom somewhere in India wearing a loin cloth and a bit of a discarded shirt.
“Did you change your religion out of your own free will?” asked the judge.
“Yes, your honour.”
“Was there any allurement or inducement that made you do so?”
“Yes your honour!” said the poor man and the courtroom buzzed with excitement.
“What was the inducement offered?” asked the judge, peering at the poor tribal and getting ready to close the case.
“The promise of an attractive spiritual life and of a God who listens to me!”
“Was there no other inducement?”
“No your honour, I was not offered any money to change my God, as I was offered by all the candidates in the last elections to change my vote! And your honour?”
“Yes?” said the judge.
“When political parties offer free TV’s, free electricity, cheap rice and free housing..”
“Yes, yes I know!” said the judge.
“Isn’t that allurement and inducement?”
“I am the one asking the questions!” said the judge.
“I am sorry your honor. And your honour?”
“I told you I am the one…”
“I am a poor man…”
“Yes I know,” said the judge.
“Poor and uneducated!”
“I know that!”
“Starving and hungry!”
“What are you leading up to?” asked the impatient judge.
“But you have still given me the freedom to vote!”
“That is the right of every citizen of this country!” said the judge proudly, “and it is my duty to see that no one stops you from exercising this right!”
“Thank you your honour!,” said the poor man and there was a hush in the courtroom as he drew himself to his full height and said, “If I, your honour, can be trusted with the right to vote a government out of power, then why your honour can’t I the same poor man be trusted to change my religion and my God when I want to, without having to give an explanation to you or any officer in this country? Let me test another god as much as I test a new government! If I am good enough to vote then your honour I am good enough to choose my faith!”
There was silence in the courtroom as the poor man sat down.
So, be prudent and discerning dear reader. Don’t be fooled by the loud noise of savage drum beats, caused by the laws of hate and division, even as the beautiful conversation of peace given by the tapestry of a diverse yet united nation is slowly but surely removed from beneath us, under the guise of ‘protection!’
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