The Daily Guardian and Dainik Bhaskar reported on July 15 that the RSS has coined a new slogan against conversion at its Chitrakoot meeting: “Chadar Mukt, Father Mukt Bharat”. The Sabrang also carried a story on 23rd July on the same issue under the title, “Is chadar aur father mukt Bharat the Next Anti-minority Plot”. In this slogan ‘Chadar’ stands for Islam and ‘Father’ stands for Christianity. 

The RSS is planning to put pressure on the Central government to bring in a new central law on conversion.  Rakesh Sinha, RSS thinker and M.P, in a recently given interview to Dainki Jagran (Mid July 2021) demanded that time has come to launch the campaign “Isai Missionary Bharat Chhodo” (Christian missionaries leave India). According to him, the missionaries are ruining Adivasi culture and are doing conversion work taking advantage of the provisions of freedom of religion.

The RSS as well as some court verdicts hold the view that the constitution of India gives the freedom to its citizens to profess, practice and propagate the faith of their choice, but it does not give them the freedom to convert any one. The RSS has been making the accusation that the missionaries are involved in conversion of the poor people through fraudulent means. Many BJP governments, including the Madhya Pradesh government, have made the anti-conversion laws more stringent. The RSS has increased its hold and influence manifold in the tribal areas through various organizations and activities. Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad has played a crucial role in radicalizing the tribal communities in India. Ghar Vaapasi (Reconverting tribals who were converted to religions other than Hinduism) progamme was one among the strategies adopted by the Sangh Parivar in order to enhance its grip on the tribal communities.
     
There is a saying in Hindi, Pahale Kasai, Badme Isaai (First Muslims, then Christians). After the BJP came to power in 2014 the main focus of the Sangh Parivar in its strategy to convert India into Hindu Rashtra was on isolating and emaciating the Muslim community through various strategies. They included hate speech and spreading hate messages using social media platforms, mob lynching under the pretext of cow protection, making cow protection laws very stringent in order to take away the livelihood of Muslims who are involved in animal slaughter and related occupations, passing the discriminatory Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) along with the threat of preparing National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR), and abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A and redrawing the political map of  Jammu and Kashmir.
 
The focus of the Sangh Parivar on religious conversion is to keep up the polarization of Hindus, an ongoing process. The Hindus who are divided into different castes can be kept together mainly by projecting a common enemy. As the BJP has not much to showcase as its achievements during the last 7 years, the process of polarization can be sustained and prolonged by vilifying the internal enemies. 

The theory in economics, ‘diminishing returns’, is also applicable to socio-political polarization. Whipping the Muslims has almost reached its climax and continuation of the same strategies may not yield proportionate returns in electoral terms. Therefore the Sangh Parivar may target Christians and Muslims, projecting them as the enemies of the nation by focusing on CONVERSION in the remaining three years before the election to Lok Sabha in 2024. Coining the slogan, “Chadar Mukt, Father Mukt Bharat '', is an indication of the envisaged strategy of the Sangh Parivar. 

Jesus advised his disciples to be “cunning as serpents” and “innocent as doves”. Hence, I think, the Church in India, being faithful to the core teachings of Jesus, has to redefine its mission in India against the backdrop of the tectonic socio-political changes that have taken place in Indian society during the last seven years and the projected strategies of the Sangh Parivar for the future. 

In this context it is pertinent to recall two important findings of a survey conducted by Pew Research Centre regarding the role of religion in public life.  According to the survey, for 64% of Hindus, being Hindu is essential to be “truly Indian” and 59% of all Hindus also believe that being able to speak Hindi is necessary to be an Indian. 66% of Hindus and 64% of Muslims feel they are very different from each other. The survey has brought light to how the Indian society is divided in the name of religion. 

In this backdrop the process of redefining the mission of the Church in India could be centred on Jesus’ advice to his disciples to become the “salt for all mankind”.

Jesus was an amazing teacher because he could communicate profound thoughts and ideas using simple examples taken from the everyday life of people. One such example is salt which is used by people of all countries and cultures as an essential ingredient of food. Jesus wants his disciple to become relevant to society by fulfilling the functions of salt. The functions of salt are known to people from their own experience. When Jesus told his disciples, “You are like salt for all mankind”, he did not give any explanation because the disciples could easily grasp the implications. But he warned them saying, “But if salt loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it.” The warning refers to preserving the quality of discipleship by following the way of Jesus or living the values and principles of Jesus. 
 
The most important function of salt is giving taste to food. Secondly, it preserves food items from being corrupted. In olden days, when there was no refrigerator salt was used to preserve meat and fish from decaying.  Another important function of salt is healing wounds. When there is a cut in any body part salt water is applied for healing. Salt is also used as manure for certain trees like coconut trees; hence it has a nurturing function. If the salt has to fulfil the four functions it has to dissolve itself and become part and parcel of the situation or context.
 
The focus areas of the mission of the Church in India today can be conceived and expressed as 1) making people’s life tasty i.e. happy and meaningful 2) preserving society from being corrupted by protecting its members from being corrupted and joining hands with anti-corruption movements 3) being an agent of physical, and emotional healing especially, healing the wounds of faith communities and building harmony among the followers of different religions and 4) nurturing and empowering people, especially the poor and the marginalized sections.  
 
In fact, these functions are to be carried out through all the ministries of the Church. However, certain ministries can focus on a particular function. For example, education ministry, in which maximum resources of the Church in terms of personnel and finance are invested, may focus on inculcating the core Indian constitutional values in the students as part of character formation and value education along with building leaders who are committed to safeguard secular democracy and promoting harmony among the followers of different faiths.

 As a huge number of young people are brainwashed with the divisive, exclusive and hateful majoritarian ideology of Hindutva, especially in north and central India, there is an urgent need for instilling in students respect and appreciation for all religions. This can be done only through practising pluralism in terms of culture and religion in the Church run schools.
 
Pastoral care may focus on the holistic empowerment of Catholic communities who are able to fulfil the four functions of salt, especially preserving society from being corrupted. Top priority in pastoral care should be animating and facilitating the spiritual growth of the faithful so that they become role models of practising the core values of Jesus: forgiveness, compassion, justice, respecting human dignity of all without any discrimination and respect and appreciation for all faiths. Tendencies for dividing the faithful based on rituals and traditions should be totally avoided. Intrusion of the cancer of religious fundamentalism should be resisted tooth and nail. 
 
Against the backdrop of unbridled commercialization in the health care sector, Christian health care institutions should become role models of genuine caring and healing. Along with physical healing people need psycho-social and spiritual healing during the devastating pandemic Covid 19.
 
The social apostolate of the Churches should focus on the empowerment of the marginalized sections of the Indian society by helping them to access their fundamental rights. Making available quality education to the marginalized sections of the society along with imparting skill training is the best means to liberate them from the vicious circle of poverty. 

The traditional hostels/boarding houses for Tribals and Dalits could be converted into training centres for building leaders with integrity and competence who are committed to the empowerment of their own people, as the current leaders of these communities are often bought by the mainline political parties.
 
Jesus did not envisage his disciples becoming a majority to dominate and control the whole world. As a little salt can transform the whole food item, a minority of disciples, even a miniscule number, can transform the whole society. Hence greater focus of the Churches in India should be on enhancing the quality of its members. 

Jesus wants his disciples and followers to become agents of peace and reconciliation. It is pertinent to recall what Pope Francis and Pope John Paul II did during their visits to Latin American countries. Pope Francis during his weeklong South American tour in July 2015 asked for an apology for the sins and crimes of the Catholic Church against the indigenous peoples during the colonial conquest of the Americas. St. John Paul II, for his part, apologized to the continent's indigenous people for the “pain and suffering” caused during the 500 years of the church's presence in the Americas.
 
When the followers of Jesus become salt by fulfilling the four functions of salt through a process of being integrated into the society by becoming part and parcel of it, evangelization will take place automatically. When the followers of Jesus become roses through their selfless services, people will be attracted to them because of their beauty and fragrance. There will be no need for any aggressive advertisement.

The training of priests, pastors and women and men religious, who are expected to be radical disciples of Jesus need an overhaul. They should become empowered animators and facilitators who are confident to enter into dialogue with all sections of society, especially the elite and the middle class. The training process should make them leaders with competence and character. Honesty, integrity, compassion and availability should be their hallmarks. They must be effective communicators armed with the knowledge of the current social, political and economic issues, beside basic knowledge about all faiths in India. As salt becomes part and parcel of the food item, they must be capable of entering into the mainstream of society. Self discipline and self education along with daily contemplation on the teachings of Jesus, relating them to the context, should be the source of their strength.   

India, the biggest democracy in the world, is facing a huge challenge from the majoritarian Hindutva, aggressively promoted and ruthlessly implemented by the Sangh Parivar and the BJP governments at the Centre and in the states. Muslims and Christians are the main targets of Hinduva. The best way to withstand the Hindutva onslaught by the followers of Jesus is to become the salt of society and roses that emit beauty and fragrance of the core values of Jesus.