The Christians in India are children of Ram,”
declared Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Union Minister of State for Food
Processing Industries. She, a BJP MP of Fatehpur (UP) adopted deceptive
tactics in her attempt to misinterpret the identity of non-Hindus
including Nagas who belong to the Mongolian race and have nothing to do
with Ram historically, culturally or in any other ways. The question of
the so-called Ghar Wapsi or “homecoming” conversion melas does not arise
in the case of Nagas, including Gaidinliu’s Haraka or the Hindus of
Manipur. Her statement is aimed at reviving the unsound idealism of the
four varnas of her party’s One Book, One Religion, One Language and One
Culture. The polemical attempt to promote the RSS brand of Hinduism
through BJP party politics and vice versa is unfair, unacceptable and
dangerous. It is also irrational and obscurantist.
The proposal of renaming Dimapur Airport after Rani Gaidinliu by a BJP MP from Odisha in last Parliament Session seems to be a move in the same direction. The BJP with its outfits such as RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal has been making all sorts of forceful attempts to abolish the secular credentials of India down the ages. It has partially succeeded with Modi at the helm in New Delhi but a culturally and religiously worked out Hindutva monolith cannot last. India will pay a very heavy price for the attempt BJP seems set to make.
It is difficult to understand as to why some Naga politicians talk of honourable political settlement on one hand and advocate BJP rule in Nagaland on the other as not satisfied with the NDA alliance of which BJP happens to be the biggest partner. We must look into why the Hindu Rastra had to be ruled by Moghuls, British and then the Dynasty for over 800 years. Hinduism with its much hated, notorious track record of caste is horrible and a curse for India. A case in point is the snobbery of high caste towards Dalits who are fellow human beings. The insanity does not go together with nationalism as darkness does not go with light. The severe social drawbacks produced by the Caste System explain why 665 million poor Indians cannot afford lavatories and are compelled to defecate in the open. India is known for the abject poverty, ignorance, and disease-breeding unhygienic living conditions of her poor people. More often than not, despised and segregated randomly by other civilised countries since hundreds of years of slavery, till today. Mahatma Gandhi was against the evils of the Caste System and he tragically ended up being its victim. A BJP MP’s glorification of his assassin Nathuram Godse is an ugly reflection of the philosophy and doctrine of life advocated by BJP, RSS, VHP or Bajrang Dal.
We must see where the position of the Nagas would be in the future Hindu Rastra BJP is clearly committed to bring about. A Brahmin tailor was doing alteration of my trousers thinking that I was from Japan. But when I told him of my Naga identity, he threw my trousers out into the street in Pune in 1982. I took the case to the Police then District Court of Pune. Several RSS youth constantly threatened me with dire consequences. They broke most of my window panes at Symbiosis International Hostel, trying to force me to withdraw the case, compelling me to arm myself with an iron rod concealed in a leather cover and a helmet to be ready to accept their wild challenge to fight them physically. The threat went on for about eight months till. The Court case went well, justice was delivered as there was secular character in the country backed by a strong political will of the Government in Delhi. As such caste and other discriminations could be effectively challenged at that point of time. I also received the strong support of several members of the Naga –Maharastrian Association.
The real challenge of caste discriminations, homecoming conversion and Hinduization of politics may come when BJP will get absolute majority in the the Rajya Sabha in 2016. It will be a crisis as well as an opportunity to purify us Christians to grow deeper in truth, spirituality, love, unselfishness and holiness. The different BJP and Hindutva outfits committed to extremism may not burn us to death as was done to Graham Staines and his two sons in mainland India because the extremists did not like the anti – leprosy Christian mission of mercy the Staines were serving. But they will try to distort our origin, our unique political history and our priceless Christian identity by the excessive use of money for inducement, manipulation of power and unscrupulous interpretation of history and culture to achieve their mission. However these oppressive measures that resurgent RSS brand of Hinduism has started to launch to reconvert we may see they will not be able to weaken the Christianity, rather it will help Christians move forward ever stronger instead. The outfits of BJP or the BJPs are not our enemy, they are our good neighbours, we must love them dearly. We ourselves are our own worst enemy; our downfall lies in our own immoral ways of doing things to solve our problems. This has resulted in random corruption, short-cut methods to achieve power and abuse of power. We need not be terrified by what they may do to fulfil their plans, if our lives demonstrate integrity and character worthy of respect. The time of decision for our stand as Christians is now; choose for yourselves this day who you will serve, as for me and my household we will serve the Lord by obeying Him. Joshua 24:15.
Kuolachalie Seyie,
Hidden Forests, IG Stadium,
Kohima Nagaland
