The term "zeal of the convert" is commonly used in popular culture, as it is believed that converts to new beliefs are likely to show more devotion than those born into the beliefs. I remember this whenever I read something about Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

He was a Congressman who left the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. I read somewhere that what provoked him to do so was being kept waiting by Rahul Gandhi when he sought an appointment with him.

It's certainly not a reason to quit a party, as, as Chief Minister of Assam, he may not always be able to give an appointment to every BJP leader who approaches him. If all of them leave the party, he will be left with only hangers-on who have nothing else to do.

The BJP has many former Congress leaders, but none of them has integrated himself into the ideology of the party as Sarma has. In fact, he has, over the years, proved that he is more loyal than the King! Of course, it has benefited him, as he is considered the BJP's gateway into the Northeast.

It is an irony that those who caused the gravest damage to Congress are former Congressmen. Take the case of a little incident at Ayodhya in 1949. One night, some miscreants placed an idol of Ram Lalla inside the Babri Masjid. Later, they claimed it appeared on its own. In other words, it was a manifestation of God.

It is history that the idea for planting the idol was that of the District Magistrate, a Malayali officer belonging to the Indian Civil Service. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru asked Chief Minister Govind Ballabh Pant to have it removed.

Pant dilly-dallied, leaving the idol inside the Masjid. The ICS officer resigned from service, joined the Hindu Mahasabha, and later became a Member of Parliament. He also got a wife from a princely family in UP.

Pant's inaction led to a series of incidents culminating in the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and the Supreme Court judgment that gave the land to the Hindus, though the court was not convinced by any of the arguments in favour of the Hindus.

Instead of the "self-manifested idol," sculptor Arun Yogiraj's work was installed as the idol at the Ayodhya temple, which is still far from completion. It was an admission by the Sangh Parivar that all its claims about the Ram Lalla that appeared on its own in 1949 were nothing but hogwash.

In retrospect, it was Pant who caused the gravest damage to the credibility of the Congress and the state when he refused to act on the advice of the Prime Minister. For him, his faith was more important.

Nehru was a democrat, unlike Narendra Modi and Indira Gandhi. None of Modi's ministers has the guts to announce a policy decision. They have to praise him in all their speeches. Worse, they can't even accept an invitation without the consent of the PMO and the RSS.

Indira Gandhi was a shade better. Her finance minister would not have asked a fair price shop owner why he did not display the PM's picture. If any CM had not listened to her, she would have asked for his head. In the case of Modi, no CM has the guts to even look into his eyes. I was shocked to see the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha virtually genuflecting before him. He is otherwise a tiger for the Opposition!

That was not the situation during Nehru's time. He was not scared of the Chief Ministers or his Cabinet colleagues. Who else would have appointed persons like Shyama Prasad Mukherji, who was an extreme rightist, and John Mathai, a financial wizard who could give an extempore Budget speech, to his Cabinet?

He did not try to control his Chief Ministers. One such person was Durga Prasad Mishra in Madhya Pradesh. He was considered Chanakya. In fact, all Brahmins are considered super-intelligent.

It was Mishra who first felt the need to bring forward a Freedom of Religion Bill in the state. It was a euphemism to strike at Christianity. Before that, he appointed the Niyogi Commission to study the growth of Christianity. There was no concrete evidence of any mass conversion in the state.

The Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church, which had a mission centre at Sehora near Satna, was one of the various church establishments the Commission studied in detail. I visited the centre a couple of times, the last being in 2023. There is hardly any local Christian there. They can't even fill the tiny church on Sundays.

However, countless local people have benefited from the hospital, school, and library there. None of them remained illiterate, while some have done well in life merely on the strength of the education they received.

For all his brilliance, Mishra did one foolish thing. He enacted a Freedom of Religion law. Of course, he became a pioneer. Over half a century later, not a single person has been convicted for fraudulent conversion. His effort was in vain. His son, Brajesh Mishra, could not become Foreign Secretary. He, therefore, hitched his wagon to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who saw extraordinary brilliance in him and appointed him as the National Security Advisor.

Today, more than a dozen states have anti-conversion laws in place. The first thing the BJP government did in Haryana when it came to power 10 years ago was to enact such a law. The moment the Bill was passed, I remember Congress leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda walking across the aisle to greet then Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar. What was the need?

The Bill was the toughest. Cow slaughter was considered worse than manslaughter. The punishment for cow slaughter was severer than for manslaughter. Ironically, the state felt the need to strengthen the law to make punishment stronger within a short period.

Rajasthan, where the BJP came to power recently, has introduced a Bill seeking to punish fraudulent converters with 10 years of imprisonment. The Assam government has a landmark law titled the Assam Healing (Prevention of Evil Practices) Bill, 2024, to outlaw magical cures and faith-healing camps allegedly run by Christian evangelists.

If anyone promises magical cures, they should take action, but it should apply to everyone, not just some people. The Constitution calls for the promotion of scientific temper, not the spread of pseudo-spirituality.

Recently, Chief Minister Himanta Sarma surprised the country by banning beef from being served in public places within a five-kilometre radius of temples. In a state where illiteracy exceeds 20 percent among men and nearly 35 percent among women, it would be difficult for people to measure such distances accurately and decide whether to eat beef or not.

Recognising this challenge, Sarma announced on December 5 that beef would no longer be served in any public places or restaurants across the state. However, he did not clarify whether this applied only to cow meat or all forms of beef, a term that includes buffalo meat as well.

Sarma should understand that meat is a critical source of protein for millions in India, and no leader has the right to deprive people of their food. This ban conflicts with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which guarantees the right to food, and our own Constitution safeguards similar rights.

While Sarma may argue that the ban protects the cattle wealth of the state, this rationale is deeply flawed. Who will care for male calves or old cows that are no longer productive? If sold, such animals provide farmers with income. Without this option, the burden of maintaining unproductive cattle falls on the already struggling farmers.

Sarma's own household would turn into a goshala (cattle shelter) within a decade if he tried to maintain all the calves and cows born to a single cow. The plight of poor farmers is far worse.

States with stringent anti-cow slaughter laws, like Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, have seen a decline in cow populations, while states like West Bengal and Kerala, which permit cow slaughter, boast higher per capita cow populations. In Kerala, a farmer can earn up to ?25,000 by selling an unproductive cow or ?5,000–?10,000 for a male calf.

Sarma should ask an Assam farmer how much agricultural produce he would need to sell to earn that amount or inquire how much fish a Brahmaputra fisherman must catch to make such a sum.

The ban disproportionately harms farmers—most of whom are Hindus—by depriving them of income and forcing them to care for unproductive animals. While those who enjoy eating beef won't starve without it, countless farmers will suffer financial setbacks. Sarma would do well to study how cattle are treated in developed countries, where they are better cared for than in India, a country notorious for its poor treatment of animals.

If cows are sacred to some Hindus, pigs are considered unclean by Muslims. Yet, no Muslim ruler ever banned pork slaughter. Similarly, the Bible prohibits certain meats, but the British did not enforce such dietary restrictions in India. Even Jains, who avoid root vegetables, do not demand such foods be banned near their temples. Will Sarma follow this example and ban potato, yam, or onion consumption near Jain temples in Assam?

Interestingly, a senior BJP leader was once caught on video enjoying fried beef in Kerala. His defence? He was eating fried onion. Only a BJP leader can invent such a defence and earn the nickname "Onion" for it.

Sarma's zeal extends beyond dietary restrictions. Recently, while leading the BJP campaign in Jharkhand, he focused on alleged Bangladeshi infiltrators taking over tribal lands and homes. Videos circulated showing Muslim children dancing on furniture in middle-class homes, and Home Minister Amit Shah made similar allegations.

Yet, Jharkhand voters rejected these claims, re-electing the INDIAlliance. The narrative of unchecked infiltration failed because it contradicted the reality: India's strong Home Minister and Defence Minister, along with the BSF and the Army, make such infiltration implausible.

Ironically, Assam lags behind Bangladesh on many social indices, including literacy rates, infant mortality, and maternal health. At one point, Bangladesh even had a higher economic growth rate than India. With these comparisons in mind, the claim of Bangladeshi dominance over Indian states like Jharkhand rings hollow. Even in Assam, the infiltration narrative has been exposed as a convenient political tool rather than a pressing reality.

Sarma's fervour as a convert to his party's ideology is understandable, but it must align with the national interest. It cannot justify depriving people of their food or imposing personal dietary preferences on a predominantly non-vegetarian population. Leaders like Sarma should prioritise inclusivity and the well-being of all citizens rather than enforcing divisive policies. After all, true leadership lies in uniting people, not dividing them, Mr Himanta Biswa Sarma.