Religious intolerance: Mr Obama, keep calm and pray for US
Most Indians do not need to be reminded of the "chor ki dadhi mein tinka" story. For those who do, this is how it goes: To crack a case of theft in the palace, Emperor Akbar's courtier Birbal called everyone in the main hall and announced that the thief would have a speck in his beard. One man checked his beard, and was happy to report that. He was caught. This fable stays true. The guilty often shout the loudest, declaring their innocence.
Speaking on growing religious intolerance in the world, US President Barack Obama pointed out the rise of intolerance in India. And Indians reacted in three distinct ways, based on their own prejudices. We heard what we wanted to hear; what he said be damned.
Reaction 1: How can Obama lecture us? Hey pot, meet kettle. The US should look at itself before pointing out what is wrong in the world. Down with racists, bigots and America.
Reaction 2: This is a condemnation of Modi's government. After taking a pot shot at Modi at the Siri Fort auditorium in Delhi, Obama has gone back and fired another shot.
Reaction 3: This is not a criticism of Modi, but of the UPA. Note that Obama doesn't say in the past year, he says "in past years". And, anyway, who's Obama to say this to us? He is Barack Hussain Obama, by the way.
My reaction, too, is based on my own prejudices that reject the above three.
Obama is not lecturing us. He was lecturing his own. He gave the example of India because he visited us recently. The Dalai Lama was in the audience. The Dalai Lama knows India is not as bad as it is being projected to be. He could live anywhere in the world, but chooses to live here. The fact, however, is that India is going from bad to worse. This was never the land of tolerance that romantics keep reminding us of. Like the rest of the world, our history is replete with wars and strife. Many of them religious. We had riots before the 24X7 channels brought the images home and the Internet allowed us to share them at the click of the mouse. We also have liberalism and secularism built into our ethos. Not because Hinduism is polytheistic and more open to other faiths than other faiths, but because we are Indians.
Obama said that the religious intolerance today would have shocked Gandhi. Gandhi is dead. Had he been alive, he would have been numbed by riots after riots and the shrill noise of religious retards. A million people were killed just the year before he died. He endorsed the Khilafat Movement. Khilafat took decades to come into being. We do not know whether Khalifa Ibrahim Abu-bakr al-Baghdadi would ever acknowledge this, because his acts are diametrically opposite to Gandhi's thoughts. A man who had seen so much bloodshed in the name of religion would hardly have been shocked by a Sadhvi's statement here and a communal riot there. He had seen the mother of all riots, and had lived through it, too.
Gandhi did not invent tolerance. He found the beauty of tolerance and showed it to everyone possible. Contrary to what some critics believe, Modi or the BJP didn't invent religious intolerance. If they represent a certain intolerance that existed before them, other parties and leaders too have endorsed religious intolerance. Religious intolerance has been the hallmark of religious societies since religion arrived and bothered others. When it was possible, people were burnt, slaughtered, mass-murdered for not believing in the same God. But people evolved, became more civilised, and such horrid acts became aberrations and still are treated as such.
Intolerance doesn't grow in a vacuum. If Hindus were tolerant, as some people do not tire of pointing out, they did not become intolerant on their own. The clichéd radicalisation of Muslims didn't happen in isolation. People react to perceptions. Perceptions are built by what we hear and see, and on hearsay. From Europe to the Middle East to India to the Far East, societies are mixing with and reacting to one another. An injustice in Gaza stirs a Muslim in Indonesia. A Pune army-man, an Indore Sadhvi, an Ajmer activist join hands to blow up a train in Haryana, on its way to Pakistan. A bunch of atheists get shot in Paris, churches are burnt in Nigeria and Pakistanis praise the killers. There is a common, underlying thread here: Religion.
A decidedly pro-Hindu and purportedly anti-Muslim party protecting the honour of the Prophet of Islam in Maharashtra should be the ultimate tribute to religious harmony. It is not. Shireen Dalvi is in hiding after this only editor of an Urdu newspaper reprinted a Charlie Hebdo cartoon. Other editors of Urdu newspapers have said that she deserved death. The BJP-Sena government went on to arrest vendors who sold the paper, Awadhnama. The BJP-Sena would protect the Prophet of Islam from cartoons so that when it suppresses freedom to protect Hindu gods/demigods from cartoonists, those defending freedom of speech cannot accuse it of bias.
When people say that one should respect each other's religion, what they actually mean is, "Respect my religion. If it takes respecting your religion, I will do that too for my religion." People of different faiths do not respect one another's faith. The Christian god does not love Hindus, the Muslim God doesn't love Christians, so much that the unloved are denied entry into their respective heavens. Those who genuinely respect other faiths are so small in number that they are marginalised, left wondering about the rise of intolerance. They are helpless as the bigots trample their conscience. Not all Pakistanis believe Salman Taseer deserved death. But those who don't do not have the numbers to prevail upon the ones who do.
President Obama was speaking at what's called the National Prayer Breakfast. And before his sermon on tolerance, he gives all praise and honour to God. Which God? Why not gods? There are over 5,000 gods worshipped on this planet. Why not give all praise and honour to all gods, instead of one god, if the president meant to be inclusive. Obama was not speaking at a secular, all-faith meeting. He was speaking at a Christian prayer. He pointed out the strife facing all faiths and rightly so.
"This is not unique to one group or one religion. There is a tendency in us, a sinful tendency that can pervert and distort our faith. In today's world, when hate groups have their own Twitter accounts and bigotry can fester in hidden places in cyberspace, it can be even harder to counteract such intolerance. But God compels us to try."
God compels you to try, Mr Obama. God compels the bigots to act. The same God. The same sky person. As you say in your speech, "God works in mysterious ways". Well, what makes you believe that the rising intolerance is not one of his mysterious tricks, since he does work in mysterious ways? If God is merciful, he would protect the innocent. If God is powerful, he would definitely stop the intolerant from killing the tolerant. God is one of the two: sadist or powerless. So why all the praise and honour to him? Because that's the escape route, when it comes to addressing the elephant in the room. Religion. When you cannot help, you can pretend to help by praying. And breaking into sermons. So, shut up and pray. Happy National Prayer Breakfast.