The chilling similarity of the present developments to the run-up to the Babri Masjid demolition cannot be missed. The Saffron Brigade has perfected its fascistic methodology and Goebellsian propaganda tactics. (Goebels was Hitler's minister for propaganda, whose dictum was "if you tell a big enough of lie, frequently enough, it becomes the truth.") The run-up to the demolition of the Babri Masjid was punctuated by demands for a national debate on secularism. Slogans such as "appeasement of minorities" and "pseudo-secularism" all given circulation to buttress the whipping-up of hatred and communal frenzy against the Muslim minority. The bloodshed and mayhem that followed still continues to shame the soul of India. And all this was done to gain political and electoral advantage at the expense of the very vitals of a pluralistic society and its syncretic ethos.

Just as the Babri Masjid was described before its destruction as "a disputed structure," churches in Gujarat today are being described as "prayer halls." The charge being levelled by the Saffron Brigade is that conversions of tribals are taking place through allurement and coercion. If such is their concern for people changing their faith, one wonders why the Saffron Brigade is silent over people deserting Indian nationality and clamouring after the US "green card," lured by the glitter of the West. After all, such Indians (many of whom constitute the bedrock of the reactionary communal international support base of the Saffron Brigade) have betrayed and deserted their Bharat Mata. In the RSS terminology, they have betrayed their matrubhoomi, janmabhoomi and punyabhoomi. Surely, aghast at people converting from their religious faith, they should be equally, if not more, outraged at the thousands of Indians being lured by the West and betraying their motherland! If the question is of banning conversions, the first item on the agenda should be to ban the conversion of one's nationality!

However, let us turn to the question of the tribal conversions. As everyone is aware, with the process of economic development and modernisation, many of the tribes are drawn into the mainstream of societal development. In the process, they change their customs, their traditions, and assimilate with the mainstream. Many of them have their original tribal religions and form of worship which become integrated or "converted" in this process. Some may adopt, in a multi-religious country like India, Hinduism while some others may adopt Christianity, Islam or any other religion. For instance, consider the fact that the deity at the famous Bhadrachalam temple in Andhra Pradesh is called Kodandarama. It is a black figure and, as legend has it, it was the local presiding deity of the Koya tribe who still inhabit this forest region. Over centuries, the tride has assimilated Hindu religion and rituals and the deity is now considered a version of Rama.

TRAVESTY OF TRUTH

Therefore, to presume that every tribe is essentially a Hindu tribe is the first travesty of the truth. It is precisely this untruth that the Saffron Brigade spreads to further its communal agenda.

Further, consider the fact that Mahavira, Guru Nanak or Lord Buddha were all born in Hindu families. The fact that new powerful religions emerged from their teachings cannot be described as "conversions." In fact, Buddhism was embraced by millions of Indians as an escape from the tortuous Brahmanical caste oppression being practiced by Hinduism. No less a person than Swami Vivekananda confirms this. For nearly ten centuries, the Brahmanical order fought to decimate Buddhism. They eventually triumphed only by the seventh century AD, by virtually banishing Buddhism and the Buddhists from India's borders. This is what explains the spread of Buddhism immediately beyond Indian borders towards the Far East. The violent destruction of Buddhist viharas and centres of glorious civilisation and wisdom is eloquently recorded in history.

Similarly, it was against such tyrannical, Brahmanical caste oppression that the architect of modern Indian constitution, Baba Sahib Ambedkar, led his Dalit followers to embrace Buddhism. In fact, a person of the stature of Vivekananda had noted long ago that "The Mohammedan conquest of India came as a salvation to the downtrodden, to the poor. That is why one fifth of our people have become Mohammedans" (Works, Vol 3, P 294)

SPURNING THE TRADITION

It needs to be emphasised that national debates on secularism, on conversions were conducted for many years preceding the adoption of our republican constitution and settled when the vision of an independent India was based on secular democratic foundations. By seeking to re-open these issues, the Saffron Brigade, today, is only seeking to carry forward its pernicious ideology and political project of establishing its "Hindu Rashtra." Through these columns, we have repeatedly drawn the attention of the readers to the writings of former RSS Sarsanghchalak Golwalkar and his notorious book, We Or Our Nationhood Defined. The naked hatred against all non-Hindu religions has been repeated consistently by the RSS since then. Golwalkar in a later book, Bunch of Thoughts, devotes an entire chapter to what he characterises as the three "internal threats" to India -- Muslims, Christians and communists. The hatred against communists is not only because they are the most steadfast and consistent upholders of secularism but also because they had allegedly spurned Hinduism to become atheists. By this logic, Golwalkar is, in fact, spurning the entire wealth of Hindu Indian tradition itself. Being a devout votary of the tyrannical Bramanical order, the RSS conveniently forgets the philosophers like Charvaka and the entire Lokaykta school of Indian philosophy. Its followers not only revolted against Brahmanical oppression but also openly embraced and propagated atheism. Of course, since such parts of Indian heritage negate the Saffron Brigade's political project, these are discarded contemptuously.

VIOLENCE: RSS CREDO

Further, in their effort to establish such a religious intolerant Brahmanical oppressive social order, the Saffron Brigade adopts violence as its credo. In 1952, justifying violence as an integral part of their philosophy, Golwalkar said, "It should be used as a surgeon's knife ... to cure the society" (Spotlights, p 110). Report after report of the judicial enquiry committees, instituted by the government to probe communal riots, have indicted the RSS for directly preaching and indulging in violence against the minorities. A few of them are: Jaganmohan Reddy Commission (Ahmedabad riots, 1969), D P Madan Commission (Bhiwandi, 1970), Vithayathal Commission (Tellichery, 1971), Jitendra Narayan Commission (Jamshedpur, 1971), Venugopal Commission (Kanyakumari, 1982), and Srikrishna Commission (Bombay, 1992-93).

What the country is witnessing today, these attacks against the Christian community are just the continuation of such inhuman methods adopted by the RSS and the Saffron Brigade to fulfil its reactionary objective of converting a secular democratic India into a rabidly intolerant "Hindu Rashtra." In fact, it is they who are resorting to "forcible conversion."

AGGRAVATING PEOPLE'S MISERIES

It is, indeed, a matter of anguish and shame that the country is under siege by such forces at a time when millions of our brethren are groaning under oppressive economic conditions. Instead of directing its attention to solving the people's problems, or at least seeking to alleviate their miseries from poverty, disease, squalor and illiteracy, this BJP-led government is imposing an agenda that only deepens the communal wounds, aggravating people's miseries. One can only be aghast to note that the communal forces who consumed the life of Mahatma Gandhi are today seeking to observe the 50 years of his assassination, not by popularising his vision of communal tolerance but by setting up a national level commission for the welfare of cows! This proposal to set up the national cow welfare commission (Gau Seva Ayog) has been unanimously recommended by a national committee under the chairmanship of the prime minister (Asian Age, January 12). It is, indeed, ironic that we, Indians, are to suffer such a minority government whose priorities and pre-occupations are far removed from the day-to-day realities of the Indian people.

Worse still, as we move into the last year of the 20th century, as the world braces itself to reach higher civilisational levels, we in India have a political leadership that seeks not to take India forward but to take it backward towards medieval barbarity.

THE REAL DANGER

As the world moves towards the third millennium, it will be interesting to recollect, as Nobel laureate Amartya Sen informs us, the transition from the first to the second millennium, according to the Islamic Hijra calendar (corresponding to 1591-92 in the Roman calendar). In the year 1000 Hijra, Emperor Akbar was on the Mughal throne. Amongst the many pronouncements he issued on this occasion, his famous edict on religious tolerance is the one that stands out: "No man should be interfered with on account of religion and anyone (is) to be allowed to go over to a religion he pleases." Like the synthetic religion of Din-i-Ilahi, Akbar's attempt to evolve a new synthetic calendar, the Tarikh-i-Ilahi, did not survive for long. However, the important point to note is that Indian civilisation, even 400 years ago, was seeking to break from all expressions of religious intolerance and advancing to higher levels of human civilisation. Instead of such an advance being carried forward, however, we are today in the grips of retrograde communal forces who unfortunately hold the reins of state power, who seek to take India back in time and history.