By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 07 Feb 2015: A day after US President Barack Obama condemned the growing religious intolerance towards minorities in India, the world’s reputed newspaper The New York Times has written a hard-hitting editorial on the subject asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his ‘deafening silence’ on religious intolerance in the country.
On Thursday, in a 25-minute address to the National Prayer Breakfast, Obama who visited India last month called the country “an incredible, beautiful country, full of magnificent diversity,” but also expressed his serious concern on targeting of religious minorities in recent years. He said India is “a place where, in past years, religious faiths of all types have, on occasion, been targeted by other peoples of faith, simply due to their heritage and their beliefs.” These, Obama said, were “acts of intolerance that would have shocked Gandhiji, the person who helped to liberate that nation.”
On Friday The New York Times carried an Editorial titled Modi’s Dangerous Silence
“What will it take for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out about the mounting violence against India’s religious minorities?” the Editorial opens with this question and refers the recent attacks on Churches and forced conversions of minorities including Christians and Muslims.
“Attacks at Christian places of worship have prompted no response from the man elected to represent and to protect all of India’s citizens. Nor has he addressed the mass conversion to Hinduism of Christians and Muslims who have been coerced or promised money. Mr. Modi’s continued silence before such troubling intolerance increasingly gives the impression that he either cannot or does not wish to control the fringe elements of the Hindu nationalist right.”
US President Barack Obama with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 25 Jan 2015 (Photo – PIB)
“Recently, a number of Christian churches in India have been burned and ransacked. Last December, St. Sebastian’s Church in East Delhi was engulfed in fire. Its pastor reported a strong smell of kerosene after the blaze was put out. On Monday, St. Alphonsa’s Church in New Delhi was vandalized. Ceremonial vessels were taken, yet collection boxes full of cash were untouched. Alarmed by the attacks, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India has urged the government to uphold the secular nature of India and to assure its Christians they are “protected and secure” in their own country,” wrote the daily.
“There is also concern about the mass conversions. Last December, about 200 Muslims were converted to Hinduism in Agra. In January, up to 100 Christians in West Bengal “reconverted” to Hinduism. Hard-line Hindu nationalist groups, like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (V.H.P.) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (R.S.S.), make no secret of their support for a “homecoming” campaign designed to “return” non-Hindus to the fold. More than 80 percent of Indians are Hindu, but Pravin Togadia of the V.H.P. says his organization’s goal is a country that is 100 percent Hindu. The only way to achieve that is to deny religious minorities their faith. The V.H.P. is reportedly planning a mass conversion of 3,000 Muslims in Ayodhya this month. The destruction of the Babri Mosque there in 1992 by Hindu militants touched off riots between Hindus and Muslims across India that left more than 2,000 people dead. The V.H.P. knows it is playing with fire.”
In the end, the paper says that India PM Modi should break his silence on the issue.
“Mr. Modi has promised an ambitious agenda for India’s development. But, as President Obama observed in a speech in New Delhi last month: “India will succeed so long as it is not splintered along the lines of religious faith.” Mr. Modi needs to break his deafening silence on religious intolerance.”
