By Lakhon Kma
The comments made by the BJP leader who is a former RSS Pracharak-Sunil Vishwanath Deodhar against Christians in Meghalaya at the Indigenous Faith Conference in Pynter village, Pynursla Sub-Division East Khasi Hills, is highly venomous, toxic, dangerous and utterly disturbing for the Hynniewtrep people. Although he has apologized under pressure after being cornered, his mindset reflects the divisive nature of RSS at its core and the central BJP leadership.
I don’t understand what neglect and disparities are faced by followers of indigenous faith which others are not facing in Meghalaya? His complete ignorance of how churches work in Meghalaya is baffling and yet he dares to make comments with zero knowledge of it. As a practicing Christian, I go to church when I feel like and have never faced any punishment for lack of attendance because no attendance is taken inside any church in Meghalaya. Catechism or any religious teaching is never mandatory in schools run by Christian Missionaries. I challenge Sunil Deodhar to show proof of a single instance of a non-Christian student studying in schools and colleges run by Christian denominations in Meghalaya where they got converted to Christianity forcefully.
Our churches, schools and colleges are places to impart education and produce righteous, responsible citizens and good human beings and not a place for conversion. The Constitution of India provides you the right to choose your religion as you wish. I choose Christianity out of my free will and because of the love and understanding of the goodness of the religion and rest assured, no one can ever dare to force anything on me in this world. So there is no better person than me to testify that there is no forced conversion in Meghalaya to the best of my knowledge and belief.
We, in Meghalaya, have close family members across religions and that has never been a cause of concern in any social gatherings. The statements of Deodhar are totally baseless and with malafide intentions to bring a divide among the Hynniewtrep people based on religious beliefs. The fact is that tribals in Meghalaya or anywhere in the NE Region have never been differentiated on the basis of religion for any purpose whatsoever and it should and will stay that way. I would like to warn everyone not to fall prey to such divisive forces. My worry is-what is Deodhar trying to do in Meghalaya or specifically in Khasi-Jaintia Hills and what he represents? I hope he is not contributing towards establishing a brahmanical hegemony that thrives on exploitation of fellow human beings? I would have appreciated if he could direct the RSS and BJP towards the teachings of eminent social reformers such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, etc. who have spent their entire life preaching against the evils of the caste system and advocated for equality among all individuals, irrespective of their social background.
All of them promoted the idea that all humans are equal in the eyes of God and spread the message of the harmony of religions throughout their lives. What one has to know is that the Brahmanical mind-set stems from the teaching of Manusmriti-the book of Brahmanism, written by Maharishi Manu. Leave aside unity among different religions; this so-called ‘Maharishi’ does not consider lower castes (Shudras, now called Scheduled Castes) as humans and rather compares them to cows, elephants, horses, etc. (Reference: International Journal of Sanskrit Research 2017; 3(6):152-154; a Hindi journal). They created the caste system and codified it in Manusmriti to spread false beliefs and deny the lower castes the basic human rights such as equality, education, employment and the right to visit temples, etc. for centuries till the Constitution of India came into force to protect these rights.
There are several references in Manusmriti which indicate how toxic and discriminatory these texts are. It says that if a ‘Kshatriya’ says anything unpleasant to a ‘Brahman’, he should be whipped 100 times; if a ‘Vaishya’ does it, he will be given 150 strokes and if a ‘Shudra’ says anything unpleasant to a Brahman, he should be killed (International Journal of Sanskrit Research 2017; 3(6):152-154).
Further, Manusmriti propagated what they believe is written in the scriptures of Rig-Veda which states that Brahmans originated from the mouth, Kshatriyas from the shoulders, Vaishyas from the thighs and the Shudras originated from the legs. Can you believe it? We all know how all humans come out in this world through a scientific and biological process which is well-understood. The Manusmriti’s evilness and discriminatory nature is openly highlighted where it stated that if a Shudra recites the Vedas, his tongue should be cut and if he hears the Vedas, molten lead should be poured in his ears (Manusmriti-Chapter 8, Sloka 272-272). It even mentions that the Shudras are not even allowed to touch a dead body which will prevent the dead from reaching heaven and there are many more such evil writings in this book.
Has the RSS ever denounced this horrid Brahmanical hegemony and condemned the Manusmriti which discriminates between fellow Hindus as lowly and non-humans and meant to only toil for them? Or are they surreptitiously propagating a medieval Brahmanical mind-set in our institutions and the country in general? Can we trust RSS to protect the tribes and spread religious harmony? Certainly not! I don’t expect them to love the tribals when they discriminate against their own kind.
Coming back to Deodhar’s statements, they only indicate a desperate attempt of social engineering meant to divide our society on religious lines for political gains and someone had rightly filed an FIR. Such a person should be behind bars. As far as the contributions of Christianity in the well-being of Meghalaya is concerned, I would like to openly challenge Sunil Deodhar or anyone from the RSS or central BJP leadership in camera on any given day. Deodhar would have got my support and sympathy had he said that most of our political leaders in Meghalaya have not lived up to the teachings of Jesus Christ or the key Khasi maxims -“Ka tip briew ka tip Blei” (Know God but know man first); “Ka kamai ia ka hok” (Earn righteously); “Ka bhalang ka imlang” (What you do for the common good); and all of us, irrespective of religious beliefs, are suffering because of it and that is where change is urgently needed rather than religious divisions.
