Nuns Arrest: After Muslims, Target Christians?

India Today

20 hours ago

Ever since Narendra Modi took over as prime minister in 2014, critics of his government have questioned the treatment of Indian Muslims. Call it the lingering shadow of the 2002 Gujarat riots or the majoritarian worldview of a Hindutva ideology, somehow the Modi government has never been able to shed the perception that it demonises Indian Muslims.The government's image hasn't been helped by the hotheads of the Sangh Parivar who every now and then commit the most unspeakable crimes against Muslims, either in action or words. Only recently, a Sri Rama Sene leader was arrested in Belagavi in Karnataka for allegedly poisoning drinking water at a government school to malign a Muslim headmaster and get him transferred. While hate speech against Indian Muslims has become worryingly 'normalised', what is less spoken about is the BJP's complex equation with a minority within minorities: the country's Christian community.advertisementOn July 26, two Christian nuns, originally from Kerala, were detained at the Durg police station in BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, accused of human trafficking and forced conversion. Prima facie the charges were trumped up by the local Bajrang Dal in this tribal-dominated area. The girls who were allegedly being trafficked have gone on record saying they had gone voluntarily with the nuns because they wanted to be trained as professional nurses.
The parents of the girls were also on record to say that they had given their daughters permission to go in search of better job opportunities. And yet, the local police chose to turn a blind eye. Instead, the police took a complaint filed by a local Bajrang Dal member at face value and detained the nuns: there are even reports and visuals of a Bajrang Dal member, Jyoti Sharma, threatening and assaulting those who had come out in support of the nuns. Instead of coming out in support of the nuns, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai defended the police and Bajrang Dal.None of this should come as a surprise. I was in Chhattisgarh during the 2023 state assembly elections when I met a group of tribals in a small village in Narayanpur. They told me how they were living in fear of right-wing Hindutva groups who had socially ostracised them and would not even give them permission to bury their dead unless they re-converted to Hinduism. 'Ghar-wapsi" of Christian tribals has been a well-organised programme for years now of the Sangh Parivar and its Vanvasi Kalyan Kendras to counter what they claim is the forced or induced conversion of tribals to Christianity by missionary groups.Freedom of religion is a constitutional right, as is the right to convert to a religion of one's choice: let's not forget Babasaheb Ambedkar and his supporters much publicised conversion to neo-Buddhism. But constitutional rights can be selective: so the right to convert to Christianity is seen as forced and criminal, and re-conversion to Hinduism is seen as voluntary and a blessing. State patronage to Bajrang Dal and VHP has meant that these groups can now move around with impunity, create an atmosphere of fear and hostility, and thereby push for ghar-wapsi with active support from the men in khakhi.advertisementIronically, the nuns were granted bail only after a cross-section of Kerala MPs met Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his urgent intervention. The home ministry acted swiftly, not because Mr Shah has suddenly developed any special love for the nuns, but because the arrest of the nuns has become a major political flashpoint in Kerala, a state with a large Christian population and a state which goes to the polls next year.The BJP is keen to woo the Christian community in Kerala and create a broader Hindu-Christian compact in a state where it is desperate to get a foothold. Not surprisingly then, among those who were there at the airport to greet the nuns on their return to Kerala was the newly-minted BJP Kerala Chief Rajeev Chandrashekhar.Let's also not forget that the BJP is in power in states like Goa and has coalition partners in states like Meghalaya and Nagaland, all with large Christian populations. While the BJP may find it politically expedient to sterotype Muslims, downsize India's only Muslim-majority state to a union territory overnight, it cannot afford to openly target Christians since that will lead to instant criticism, not just in India but globally.advertisementInterestingly, last December, PM Modi, who has never attended an Eid event with Muslim clergy, joined the Christmas celebrations hosted by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India where he emphasised the teachings of Lord Christ, advocating for love, harmony and brotherhood. The previous year, on Christmas, the Prime Minister hosted prominent Christian community leaders at his residence for tea and spoke once again in glowing terms about the values of Jesus Christ. Mr Modi was, by all accounts, a most affable and charming host.And yet, what is the point of the charm offensive if the message of peace and tolerance doesn't percolate to those on the ground? What happens when nuns and missionaries are accused by the Bajrang Dal of forced conversion, persecuted and labelled 'anti-national', criminals and worse?Recall the horrific killing of missionary Graham Staines and his two young children in 1999 in Odisha by Bajrang Dal leader Dara Singh, a permanent blot on this country's tradition of inter-faith harmony. Recall more recently how an ailing octogenarian priest, Father Stan Swamy, was picked up by the police, branded a Naxal sympathiser, arrested as a terrorist under UAPA , even denied a straw sipper in jail until court intervention and eventually died in hospital.advertisementIn June this year, a BJP MLA from Sangli, Gopichand Padalkar, offered a bounty ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 11 lakh for acts of violence against Christian priests and missionaries engaging in 'forceful conversions' . According to Open Doors, a global watchdog group, India ranked 11th in 2024 on the list of countries of particular concern in terms of Christian persecution.In reality, despite the constant propaganda of mass conversion, Christians make up only 2.3% of the population. Interestingly, in 1971, census records show that Christians made up 2.6%. Officially, the population has declined and yet, there is this constant insidious campaign that conversions are happening on a mass scale through force, fraud and allurement.How does one put an end to this anti-Christian mindset? Maybe this Christmas, the Prime Minister shouldn't just host a tea and extol the virtues of Jesus Christ but simply and sternly call out the Bajrang Dal in unequivocal terms. This is what would truly endear Mr Modi and the BJP to India's Christian community. Not well-choreographed photo-ops.Post-script: The Hindutva propaganda machine accuses Christian missionaries of using education as a 'weapon' for conversion. What they won't tell you is that some of India's finest, including ministers at the Centre, have had the benefit of a missionary school education.(Rajdeep Sardesai is a senior journalist and author. His latest book is 2024: The Election That Surprised India)- Ends(Views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author)Must Watch