Ram Puniyani

Posted on August 29, 2000

 The news of Gharvapasi, re-conversion of the Adivasis to Hindu fold, who have been allegedly 'forcibly' converted mainly to Christianity by the missionaries, has become a matter of routine. Recently there were numbers of such incidents in which through newly devised baptism techniques the adivasis have been 'brought back' to their 'original' home, Hinduism, as per the proclamations of the leaders of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP). This phenomenon has been the accompaniment of the anti-Christian violence, which is going on in full gear from last four years.

 The charges, which have formed the base of anti-Christian violence are that they have been misleading the poor, gullible Adivsis by converting them to Christianity by fraud and allurement. BJP ideologue Govindacharya put the matters in a very 'forthright' manner when he spelt the Sangh Parivar (SP) line on this issue. As per him the missionaries have been doing a Sauda (Deal) in the garb of Seva (Service). And such a service is not a genuine service, it is a polluted service. Similar sentiments, but in more aggressive tone are asserted by the SP activists down the line and these have been generally accepted as the logic for legitimisation of the
'anti-Christian' violence.

Conversions in History:

 It is not the first time that the issue of conversions has been dominating the political arena. Before we come to the political role of conversion bogey or campaign, it is necessary to point out that there is no statistical evidence of the rise in the conversions to Christianity in last few years or decades. The population of Christians is on the decline 1971-2.60%, 1981-2.44%, and 1991-2.32%. The Wadhva Commission of inquiry, which investigated the murder of Pastor Graham Stains, did not find any significant rise in the number of Christians in Manoharpur District, where the Pastor was roasted alive along with his two minor sons on the charge of doing forcible conversions. Christian population in the area was more or less static in the area, in1998, 0.307%, as compared to the one in 1991,0.299%.

 The conversions generally have been the response of the social suppression of low caste. Many a times these have in turn been retaliated against by the upper caste, Brahmincal forces at Religious, social and political level. The first such reaction was the one of Shankar who consolidated the Brahminism against the rise and spread of Buddhism. This ideological onslaught was supplemented at political level by many a upper caste Kings, one of whom King Pushyamitra Shung butchered thousands of Buddhist monks to establish the Brahminicl rule.

 The conversion of Shudras to Buddhism under the leadership of Dr. Baba Saheb Ambedkar took place in 1956. The decade of 80's saw the conversion of many a Dalits to Islam in Meenakshipuram. Both these conversions brought in a cumulative counter reaction from VHP and other Hindutva outfits giving them 'legitimacy' for the terror, which they have launched from early 80s.

Anti-Christian Tirade:

 The answer for the reason of Anti-Christian campaign does not fall in this category. As there has been nothing particularly new done by the Christian missionaries in last few decades or years we have to look somewhere else for the reasons for the spurt of Anti- Christian violence and the accompanying Gharvapasi campaign. The very bogey of forced conversions is a manufactured myth and the myth manufacturers are the one's who have ensured that the violence sustains itself on the social scene and that they themselves are not visible in the process. Society is experiencing sudden phobia about Christianisation of India. This phobia has been preceded by another phobia, the one of Islamisation of the country.

Historical Precedents:

 In the early decades of twentieth century, when Hindu and Muslim communal politics was getting consolidated around Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha, there was a parallel offensive at the religious level. Arya Samaj had started Shuddhi movement on the pretext of bringing back the low castes who had 'drifted' and thereby had become impure by conversions to Sikhism, Islam and Christianity. Not to be left behind Tabligh and Tanzim movements were started to keep the hold on the Muslims. Both these ran side by side. These types of streams, the one's basing their politics on religion or race, always require a 'hate object'.

 Post-Babri demolition, the 'anti-Muslim' appeal is not yielding as 'good' dividends as it used to give earlier. At electoral level Hindutva party, BJP has reached a level of stagnation and unless new grounds are made accessible to Hindu vote bank the SP project of Hindu Rashtra cannot be actualized. The missionary activities have the strong potential of secularizing the remote places through education and health care. Educated and enlightened Adivasis are a big obstacle to the unchecked sway of the rural upper caste and the rich peasants, the social base of SP. And that's why the brilliant discovery that the 'Christians are more dangerous than even the Muslims'.

 As far the assertion that Adivasis are Hindus least said the better. They are proclaimed to be Hindus for political reasons by SP even when for centuries they do not share any of the Hindu deities, holy books, festivals, holy places and any other parameters, which define the religion of the community. Overcoming this all to assert that they ARE Hindus is where lies the 'genius' of Hindutva politics. And thus if Adivasis become Christians it is 'forced conversions' brought in by the 'anti-National'Christians but if they are converted to Hinduism, that is Ghar Vapasi, an act of Nationalism and patriotism.

 As by a clever move this type of proselytisation is projected to be undoing a wrong perpetrated on them by 'anti-National' missionaries, so it is undoubtedly a 'glorious service' to the Hindu Nation, proclaims the SP. And so even while proselytising at an intense pace they can also proclaim with the forked tongue that Hinduism is superior to other faiths as it does not believe in conversions. One must admire such 'brilliant concoctions', where the political contingency of proselytisation can be projected to be Shuddhi and Gharvapasi and thereby putting the political abusers of Hindu religion few steps higher on the ladder of spirituality and tolerance. Surely all the practitioners of race and religion based politics can learn and profit from such a 'brilliant' innovations from Hindutva stable.