A University by any definition is an institution of higher learning where liberal education is provided, so students have the liberty to question and critique without fear of offending any religion or faith. In a University, no single religion should have a defining role, more so if the University is state-sponsored. But the statement by Education Minister, Rakkam Sangma that the Capt Williamson Sangma University would be inaugurated with Christian rituals has sent the wrong message that Meghalaya is replicating what the Prime Minister did when he got all the sadhus, sants and mahants to inaugurate the new Parliament complex in May 2023. This sort of negative reciprocity is ill-intentioned. This is the first time that a building constructed out of taxpayers’ money is inaugurated by using priests of one religious faith in a country of diverse faiths and with a known track record of promoting secularism, until 2014 when things took a definite pattern and people of different faiths began to be attacked even while those attacked remained silent, barring occasional protests. Such attacks on Muslims and Christians f are today normalised which is deeply problematic. From demolishing historic buildings merely because they were built by the Moghuls to assuming that every mosque is built on a temple, some fanatics seem hell bent on tearing apart the secular fabric of India. Does Meghalaya want to follow this route of tit-for-tat politics?
Hndutva is the BJP’s agenda for vote bank politics. It is catering to the whims of a particular section of Hindus since not all Hindus voted the BJP. In Meghalaya we have not had an overt appeal for votes based on religion. While whispering campaigns are unstoppable and have pre-existed Hindutva politics, to make religion a coat of arms of any political dispensation is fraught. Ministers of the Government when giving public statements should be more circumspect and not go overboard on any issue. Ministers have a responsibility to remain unaffected by religious dogmatism because Meghalaya has a sizeable population of non-Christians too. To call Meghalaya a Christian state is to ride roughshod over the secular credentials of the Constitution that has guided this country for 75 years. It is also a flagrant violation of the spirit of co-existence that the State has maintained for over 50 years. Granted that attacks on Christians elsewhere especially on Christmas Day are a painful reality but that cannot lead to a similar adoption of the very tactics that we abhor in others.
It is time for Meghalaya as a state to rise above religious politics which pays negative dividends. Those who have played with this short-term vote winning strategy have paid the price. People are more reasonable than politicians think them to be. Sadly the penchant of most politicians has always been to take shortcuts to political one-up-manship. This has serious consequences and could lead to disharmony in the State.
