What could be the message of Fr. Stan Swamy to the Indian Church on his first death anniversary? When Fr. Stan was accused of aligning with Naxalites and was put behind bars, there were widespread protests by the members of the civil society organizations. Some priests and religious sisters joined the protests, but the response from the official Church was subdued. There was no protest from the part of the official Church against the unwarranted act by the state, but only a feeble request to release him. On the other hand, some fundamentalist Catholic groups spread the fake news concocted by the right wing Hindutva forces that Fr. Stan was a supporter of Naxalites and they had asked the Church authorities not to come to his defence.

Fr. Stan died without getting justice either from the state or from the Church, but he had no complaint because, as an authentic spiritual person, he knew the fate of a prophet, a true follower of Jesus. Indeed, he was a follower of Jesus of Nazareth and not a devotee of the Christ invented by Christians. But today, he would be totally disappointed with the followers of Jesus, especially the leaders of the Indian Church, because of Church’s indifference towards the injustices done to the Muslim community, gross violation of human rights and systematic destruction of democratic institutions; besides, some leaders in the Church subtly endorse the ideology of the Sangh Parivar that is divisive, exclusive, violent and based on hatred.  

After a year of his death, the social and political atmosphere has become more vicious with increased pumping of the poison of hatred by the right wing forces and the state unleashing violence on the Muslim community without taking recourse to due process of law, and the judiciary looking the other way. Although Fr. Stan was mainly involved in the issues of tribals, he was basically a human rights activist. His concern and commitment to human rights motivated him to empower tribals whose life is intrinsically related to water, forest and land. 

Bulldozing Muslim houses has become order of the day in the BJP-ruled states whenever the Muslims participate in any protest against the injustice meted out to them. This is a gross human rights violation. How can the members of a family be deprived of a house on a mere accusation that a member of the family was involved in violent protest? There was no bulldozing of houses after the large-scale violence and destruction of public property in different cities during the protest against Agnipath, the new policy for recruitment to armed forces. It is conclusively proved that bulldozing houses, shops and business establishment of Muslims is punitive in nature and a blatant discrimination by the state against the Muslims. Against this backdrop, it is pertinent to recall what Arundhathi Roy said recently in a conversation with Al Jazeera TV. “The bulldozing of Muslim homes, it marks a moment in time where you are seeing a sort of fragile, flawed democracy transitioning pretty openly, pretty brazenly into a criminal Hindu fascist enterprise.” The bulldozer has become “the talisman of the new, avenging, Hindu nation.”

Arundhati in the same conversation spoke about the destruction of the democratic institutions in India. “Every institution that used to be part of the checks and balances of this old democracy is now a weapon that can be used against you.” For the last eight years, the focus of the BJP has been converting India into a Hindu Rashtra through polarization based on religion, passing laws like CAA, cow protection, love Jihad, anti-conversion etc, targeting the minorities and giving a free hand to the right wing organizations to indulge in brutal violence like lynching the Muslims. As a result, the BJP government squandered its resources without solving the key problems like joblessness, malnutrition, poor quality of education etc. India continues to be one of the lowest countries in Human Development Index (131 out of 189) and Global Hunger Index (101 out of 116). Narendra Modi had promised creation of two crore jobs annually during the electioneering prior to 2014 Lok Sabha election. The recent violence by young people against Agnipath is a clear indication of the huge problem of joblessness.

The fundamental reason for the present chaotic and pathetic condition of the country is the implementation of the dangerous ideology of Hindutva. It has made the BJP leaders, who are the present rulers, blind to the social and economic realities. It appears that the Church is unaware of the Hindutva tsunami that has been sweeping through the nation since 2014. From the actions and statements of some Church leaders one gets the impression that they have fallen into the trap laid by the Hindutva forces. Two recent incidents are worth mentioning.

A recent statement of Bishop Thomas Dabre of Pune diocese has given the impression that he justifies and endorses the ideology of RSS. His advocacy for a dialogue between the Church and the RSS has created confusion not only among the Christians but also among the civil society organizations.  He was reported saying: “The Christian community accepts RSS ideology and principles. We need to establish communication and coordination between Christians and the [Rashtriya Swayamsewak] Sangh. The Sangh believes in nationalism, the Church also believes in nationalism.”

A write up by Nirmala Carvalho published in Matters India on 16^th June quoted the Bishop: “I think the principles of the RSS should be acceptable to Christianity because Jesus himself was a patriot: he loved the Jewish people; he loved the Jewish culture. [. . .] On that basis I made the point that Jesus was a patriot and his followers should also be patriots.”

There is nothing wrong in having a dialogue between the Church and the RSS, but the context in which he suggests dialogue with RSS creates suspicion. Secondly, on what basis can he say that the Christian community accepts RSS ideology and principles? RSS ideology as delineated in the writings of its ideologues V D Savarkar (“Hindutva, Who is a Hindu”) and M S Golwalkar (“We or Our Nationhood Defined” and “Bunch of Thoughts”), are diametrically opposed to the core values of Indian Constitution and the values of the Kingdom of God as taught by Jesus. Exclusion, discrimination and hatred have no place in the teachings of Jesus. How can the Christians accept the principles of an organization that considers Adolf Hitler, who massacred six million Jews, as an ideal leader?

According to M S Golwalkar, Muslims, Christians and communists are internal enemies of the nation. “The foreign races in Hindusthan must either adopt the Hindu culture and language, must learn to respect and hold in reverence Hindu religion, must entertain no idea but those of the glorification of the Hindu race and culture, i.e., of the Hindu nation and must lose their separate existence to merge in the Hindu race, or may stay in the country, wholly subordinated to the Hindu Nation, claiming nothing, deserving no privileges, far less any preferential treatment — not even citizen’s rights” (We or Our Nationhood Defined by M S Golwalkar). The policies and actions of the BJP governments at the Centre and in the states amply prove that India is being converted into a Hindu Rashtra where Muslims and Christians will have to either become Hindus or live in India without any rights, “not even citizen’s rights”.  

The second incident is an educational conclave on NEP (New Education Policy) convened by the Minority Morcha of the BJP in Kerala in which about 150 priests, nuns and lay people of Catholic Schools participated. According to a write up by Fr. Vincent Pereppaden SJ in Matters India, invitation to this conclave was sent by the secretary of KCBC (Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council) Education Commission. Although it was informed that the Education Minister would be present at the conclave, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs John Barla was the main speaker. He spoke mainly about the various schemes available to the students of minority communities. The participants did not get any opportunity to clarify their doubts and apprehensions about the NEP. At the same time the organizers got the names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of the priests, nuns and lay Catholics, which could be used to trap them later.  

Many lay people, priests, religious and some bishops in Kerala are brainwashed through the social media to hate Muslims. It seems that the IT cell of the right wing groups have succeeded to a great extent in creating enmity between the Muslims and Christians in Kerala by sending hate messages. The frequent use of “love jihad” by Christian religious leaders and hate speech against Muslims by some Christian political leaders are clear signs of the increasing divide between Muslims and Christians. The Hindutva groups know well that as long as Muslims and Christians, who constitute about 45% of the population, are together the BJP will find it very difficult to have a foothold in Kerala politics. That is the reason for the right wing groups wooing Christian religious and political leaders and creating enmity between the two communities.

Against this backdrop, the Christians in India have to listen to the warning of Jesus to his disciples, "I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Therefore, be as shrewd as snakes and innocent as doves" (Matthew 10:16).        

How can the Christians become shrewd as serpents? The main reason for Christians’ falling into the trap of the Hindutva forces is lack of knowledge about the dangerous ideology, and lack of awareness about the socio-political developments taking place in India. Hence bishops, priests, religious and lay people are to be encouraged to read newspapers and listen to news channels that are not biased in their reporting. As the majority of the media have become the propaganda tools of the government and the right wing forces, it is very significant to educate priests, religious and the faithful how to use media prudently, including social media. Secondly, the faithful are to be told unambiguously that revenge and enmity have no place in the dictionary of a true follower of Jesus. Thirdly, imparting the core values of the Indian Constitution is to be made as a part of all ministries of the Catholic Church. Fourthly, the faithful are to be taught to reflect over the socio-political issues as part of their spirituality and prayer and discern creative ways to respond to the issues.

Christians in India will be able to influence people of other faiths only if they are able to respond creatively to the socio-political issues, as Jesus did in his time. Jesus was highly critical of his own religion and he wanted to transform the Jewish religion by proposing a new way of life based on his core teaching, “Love one another as I have loved you”. It is wrong to assume that Jesus was a blind Jewish nationalist. Jesus was basically a humanist and a prophet who found God in every human person. His message is universal, transcending the boundaries of nationalities. True nationalism is love, justice, concern and compassion for people of all faiths, cultures, languages, castes and classes in India. Nationalism based on division, exclusion and hatred is nothing but pseudo nationalism. Let Christians in India be shrewd enough not to be trapped by the pseudo nationalists.