If you are Hindu and reading this, you better not be going to any Christmas parties next week. You have been warned. Not by me, but one of the morality policemen of ‘new India’. The Vishva Hindu Parishad has ordained that Hindus will be going against their ‘culture’ if they celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, as they usually do, because Indians love any excuse for a party. At least that is how it was in old India, when we did not know it was against our ‘culture’ to have a good time.
The ban on Christmas came from a Delhi VHP official. The VHP is one of the uglier offspring of the RSS. Asked if this was not a restriction on the right that our constitution gives us to worship as we wish, he made it clear that this was not about religion but about conversion. It is not just private festivities that the VHP seeks to ban, but in shops and malls as well. It delighted me to see my local mall filled with Christmas decorations and good cheer.
There were stars and lights and Santas and Christmas trees and every shop was ready with special Christmas discounts and festive offerings. Nobody obeyed the VHP, so it is possible that by next year the RSS will order its other ugly progeny, the Bajrang Dal, to enforce its Christmas ban by deploying their violent goons. Their Shiv Sena cousins spread out in Mumbai and hunt for young lovers just before Valentine’s Day because love also seems to be not part of our ‘culture’. Some years ago, I rescued a terrified young girl from a police van. She had come from one of our northeastern states to meet her boyfriend, with whom she was arrested on Marine Drive.
Conversion and the Cloak of ‘Culture’
What puzzles me about the Hindutva culture that defines ‘new India’ is why leaders of this movement do not introspect upon the reasons why Hindus, especially those of lower caste, are persuaded to become Christians, Muslims and often Buddhists. Minimal introspection would reveal that the cause is caste. I am an irreligious Sikh, but one of the tenets of my religion that I am proud of is that one reason Guru Nanak founded Sikhism was because he objected passionately to casteism. But I digress. The point I want to make this week is that ‘new India’ will not last long unless it returns to the foundational principle of pluralism enshrined in our constitution.
Muslims have been made second-class citizens in the Hindutva Rashtra, but they have little to worry about. India has the second largest Muslim population in the world and, despite those ugly and stupid ‘go to Pakistan’ taunts, they are going nowhere. They are perfectly capable of fighting back when the need arises and perfectly capable of protecting vulnerable members of their community. If truth be told, there are times when they have pushed back too far and caused more harm to Islam than to Hindutva. The example that comes instantly to mind is the insane violence unleashed when they thought their Prophet had been insulted by a BJP functionary. The hijab movement was another instance, when they went too far in the wrong direction. If Saudi Arabia, where Islam was born, is encouraging its women to ditch their veils, why should Indian Muslim women be encouraged to do the opposite? But I digress again.
Christian Minority Under Watch
This week, it is the plight of Christians I would like to draw attention to. Christians are the smallest and most vulnerable of India’s minority communities, and they have been under relentless attack in recent years. A political friend I met last week from the ‘Hindu Rashtra’ of Uttar Pradesh said that she was constantly being approached for help by Christians who were wrongly charged with converting Hindus by misleading them through ‘force, fraud, allurement or marriage’. The government of Yogi Adityanath passed the Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act in 2021. Under this law, conversion requires permission from a district magistrate or you can end up in jail. Laws like this one blur the boundaries between voluntary and involuntary conversion and exist in other states. They are designed to halt all religious conversion, even voluntary.
As someone brought up in that old India in which Hindus were confident enough to not care whether someone converted to another religion, I confess that this season of Santa Claus, feasting and festivity makes me nostalgic for that older time. In the spirit in which the VHP has warned Hindus not to celebrate, I would like to warn the leaders of ‘new India’ that alarm bells have already started to ring, and they should pay attention to them. Pluralism is what makes India what it is. Without it there is a danger that we could descend into the grim situation in which some of our less pluralistic neighbouring countries are today.
Meanwhile, since I am not a Hindu, I shall be going to Christmas parties next week and celebrating merrily with our Christian brethren. If there is a church near where I am on Christmas eve, I shall perhaps attend midnight mass, because it is one of the most beautiful religious ceremonies I have ever witnessed. For my Hindu friends partying away recklessly next week, my advice is to keep a close watch on guests who look suspicious or strange. They could be VHP spies.