Editor,
Buddha taught the middle way, and Socrates told us to know “how to choose the mean and avoid extremes on either side, as far as possible.” Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the embodiment of this golden middle way or golden mean.
When the Eastern extremes equated orthodoxy, prejudices, and superstitions with their identity and the Western extremes took liquor and licentiousness for liberty, Ram Mohan Roy followed the golden middle way. He was against blind clinging to India’s own past or aping of the West. Ram Mohan, who first took India on the road to modernity, was born on 22 May 1772. He said that India should acquire all that was best in the East and the West. He had great respect for the traditional philosophic systems of the East and believed that the Western culture alone would regenerate Indian society.
He rightly said that the caste system was doubly evil as it created inequality and deprived people of patriotic feeling. Interestingly, he disappointed his many missionary friends who had hoped that his rational critique of Hinduism would ferry him to embrace Christianity. But they did not realise his golden mean.
He wrote ‘Precepts of Jesus’ in which he praised the moral and philosophic message of the New Testament but criticised its miracle stories. This earned him the hostility of the missionaries. He had to face hostility from all orthodox quarters for his rational outlook. In fact, he had to fight with his relatives, rich zamindars, powerful missionaries, high officials, and foreign authorities all along. But he never gave up his crusade for guiding India in her darkest hour.
The orthodox condemned him and organised a social boycott against him. There is no wonder in it as Dabholkar, Pansare, Kalburgi, and Gauri Lankesh were killed in the 21st century for running with the torch which was lit by Ram Mohan.
This great social reformer and the maker of modern India had a life-long crusade for women’s right to inheritance and property and against sati, polygamy, and casteism. The anti-colonial movement and the movement for social emancipation in India were like two intersecting circles whose common ground was liberation. There was hardly any aspect of nation- building that was left untouched by him.
He was the first propagator of modern education. But he fought for an education policy that followed the middle way. While he demanded English education, he did his best to make Bengali the intellectual vehicle in Bengal. Such was his balanced approach. He was a pioneer of Indian journalism and the initiator of public agitation on political questions in the country.
He condemned the oppressive practices of Bengal zamindars that had made the lives of peasants miserable and demanded that the rents paid by the actual cultivators of land should, permanently, be fixed so that they too could enjoy the fruits of the Permanent Settlement of 1793. Ram Mohan simultaneously demanded the abolition of the Company’s trading rights and export duties on Indian goods. He raised his voice for the separation of the executive and the judiciary, trial by jury, and judicial equality between Indians and Europeans.
He founded the Brahmo Samaj. Again, it was a middle way and a synthesis of reason, the Vedas, Upanishads, and the teachings of other religions. It believed in one God and laid emphasis on human dignity, opposed idolatry, and criticised social evils. He was a firm believer in internationalism. Tagore rightly said, “Ram Mohan was the only person in his time, in the whole world of man, to realise completely the significance of the Modern Age.”
Sri Aurobindo said that when he was writing Yogic Sādhan, every time at the beginning, and at the end, the image of Ram Mohan Roy would appear before him.
Yours etc.,
Sujit De,
Kolkata
CAA operationalised
Editor,
After several ifs and buts, ultimately the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been operationalised as eligible persons got their CAA certificates before the election process for Parliamentary elections. The question arises whether it is coincidence or was it intended for political mileage. Union Home Secretary, Ajay Kumar Bhalla handed over the first set of citizenship certificates under the CAA in new Delhi and out of these were 300 persons many of whom have faced religious persecution in their country of domicile and so sought India as a haven .
The CAA that attracted so much opposition and kicked up a national controversy has finally been implemented – long after its rules were notified. The Government has started issuing certificates under the CAA to people found fit for Indian citizenship — of course from the neighbouring countries of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and belonging to Hindu, Sikh, Christian, Buddhist, Jain and Parsi communities. This should be considered as a major step forward in the domain of governance offering just protection to the harassed people from certain countries and communities on grounds of their caste or creed or religion.
It is also mentionable that it is not applicable for Sri Lankan Tamils even if they belong to any of the above religions and certainly not to Rohingyas. It does not snatch citizenship from Indian residents of any religion, and it has nothing to do with the proposed National Register of Citizens, according to the ruling party’s major leaders now. But the fear is that the two may be used in conjunction at some point of time in the future and put in peril the many illegal Muslim refugees who are in the country. The legal challenges to the CAA lies in hundreds of fresh petitions besides the 200 or so lying before the Supreme Court since December 2019. A basic and significant challenge is that the CAA discriminates against Muslims and so violates the right to equality under Article 14 and Article 25 as well. The opinions on the CAA, is that it is a benevolent legislation that takes into account religious discrimination against non-Muslims in some neighbouring countries
The most vociferous point in the Opposition logic was that the Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was making a clear and open (read ‘shameless’) allegation that an undue favour was being bestowed on certain communities — including the majority Hindu community at the cost of the people from Muslim community. That is the reason why the CAA is now operational in the country and will serve a great purpose of assuring the minorities in neighbouring countries of protection in India not on asylum basis but on citizenship basis.
India wishes to communicate to the world that it is the homeland of certain people who will be protected both legally and constitutionally. This is positive governance and a major step forward to the greater idea of justice to all on equal basis. It is a fact that minority communities in countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, have depleted in population to shocking levels in the past few decades in percentage and absolute numbers due to atrocities heaped on them by the Muslim majority community under official patronage. For such people who have nowhere to go, India must act as homeland and offer them shelter with full honour of constitutional sanction. Hence the CAA!
Meanwhile the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report of the USA has expressed concerns that, coupled with a planned National Register of Citizens (NRC), the CAA could jeopardise the rights of India’s Muslim population. The CAA’s key provisions — allowing immigrants of six religions from three countries a path to citizenship while excluding Muslims — may violate certain Articles of the Indian Constitution. The report states that those opposing the CAA are wary of the ruling BJP “pursuing a Hindu majoritarian, anti-Muslim agenda that threatens India’s status as an officially secular republic and violates international human rights norms and obligations. India says this is its internal matter.
Yours etc.,
Yash Pal Ralhan,
Via email
