The slogans from Jantar Mantar
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The Christian minority groups have submitted a petition to the President Draupadi Murmu calling on her to ensure that the systems established for the protection of civil rights in the country are functioning as due. In their petition to the President, they pointed out that even when the National Commission for Minorities and the National Human Rights Commission are in force, systematic efforts for extermination are going on under the leadership of the Sangh Parivar against the Christian minorities in India. On Sunday, Christian sects gathered at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar to protest the widespread attacks on the community and demanded government intervention. The protest meeting held by various churches and 79 Christian organizations, which attracted national attention, raised the message 'we can be suppressed, but cannot be eliminated'. The protest came in the context of the Christian community being subjected to ruthless persecution, widespread attacks and displacement in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Karnataka. A few days ago, in the same city, a notorious Hindutva leader had called for the total annihilation of minorities. It was just one of many cases of spitting racist fire under the regime of fascism. It can also be seen as a sample of the Hindutva regime's approach towards minorities. In this perspective, it is good news that Christian organizations have come together against this injustice in a situation where all the minorities are facing a big existential crisis.
For several months, the Sangh Parivar has been literally unleashing atrocities on the Christian communities in the northern states including Chhattisgarh on a daily basis. The incident where believing women were paraded half-naked along the streets in front of the crowd has already become big news. Christ statues in many places of worship were broken; houses were burnt. Many of these attacks were purportedly against alleged forced religious conversion. Despite repeated reports of such incidents in at least half a dozen states, authorities continued their silence. Quasi-judicial institutions, including the National Minority Commission, have also sided with the perpetrators. It must be remembered that some of the prominent leaders of the church had often made friends with the same ruling class. The mansions of the ruling class have often become witnesses to many such friendly talks. But none of such friendly contacts did succeed in making the assailants lay down their arms. Perhaps, it is this realization that led the Christian organizations to a new struggle for rights. Other minorities in the country have also raised similar slogans for their rights earlier. A few days ago,what were heard at a conference organised by the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind in Delhi were also slogans of the struggle for rights. Also in the discussions held by Muslim organizations with the RSS leadership recently, the same message, that they could not any longer be subjected to oppression, was put forward. . Dalit and Adivasi organizations of the country are also in the struggle with their identity-based assertion of rights. In other words, masses at the receiving end of HIndutva's onslaughts are preparing to open a new front of struggle beyond the established political defenses. This is sure to weaken the Sangh Parivar politically.
In a sense, the slogans raised at the Jantar Mantar conclave can be seen as a petition for all the minorities in the country. The ultimate Hindutva dream is an India that is monolithic in every sense, without minorities. All legislative initiatives, including the Uniform Civil Code, are means to that end. On the one hand, the ruling class plans programs to single out and exterminate minorities overtly. On the other hand, they deny all the rights constitutionally granted to the minorities for which the brute majority in Parliament is being abused. The upper caste reservation implemented in the name of economic reservation effectively deprives the minority and backward communities of their quota and thereby of their due representation in the echelons of government. In the field of education, the various scholarships received by the minorities earlier have been stopped as part of moves to eliminate the minorities. Some other special plans, similar to the Citizenship Amendment Act, are also in the works regarding Muslim minorities. What's more, there is not a single Muslim member for the ruling party in Parliament. It is no small matter that minorities recognize these systematic efforts for extermination. Such struggles and slogans as discussed here originate from that realization. Therefore, all those who want democratic-constitutional values to prevail cannot help echoing these slogans.
