Ordinance On Religious Conversions In Tamilnadu

 Nalini Taneja

THE promulgation of an Ordinance by Ms Jayalalitha imposing severe penalties on religious ‘conversions’ in Tamilnadu has serious implications. It is not merely a question of whether it gets enforced or not - of course that is crucial - but also that such enactments play a definite role in giving a rightward, communal direction and shift to our polity. It is, also an issue that is dear to the Sangh Parivar, and the VHP has already welcomed the move. Any move in the direction of such an Ordinance amounts to collaboration with fascist and anti-national forces in open defiance of the Constitution, under which freedom of conscience and religion is an unalienable right provided it does not infringe the rights of others.

 QUESTIONABLE PROVISIONS

 The Ordinance is interesting in its details. It begins with perpetrating a fraud by assuming and giving the impression that conversions (or anything else for that matter) “by use of force or by allurements or by any fraudulent means” is not already punishable under existing law of the country and that some special Ordinance or Act is required to make such offences punishable and enforceable -- except the will of the State. It also says that in general such conversions would incur a liability of fine up to Rs. 50,000 and imprisonment up to three years, but in case the converted persons are women or SC/STs, the penalty would be higher, up to Rs.1 lakh and imprisonment up to four years (The Hindu, October 6, 2002) It goes on to threaten that abetment to conversion is also liable to be treated in such a fashion.

 More interestingly, it does not allow an individual his/her freedom to change religions at will either, without fear of state intimidation. Rather ominously it asserts, “whoever converts from one religion to another by himself or whoever takes part in conversions as religious priests shall within such period specified send an intimation” to the local magistrate.

 Explaining the reasons for issuing the ordinance, a notification states that the government received several reports of conversions and hence in the interests of “law and order” it was compelled to come out with law prohibiting conversions. The references, as The Hindu report points out, pertain to mass conversions of poor Hindus, especially women, to Christianity, in Madurai district about a month ago. Also in Tamilnadu, where untouchability offences are rampant, as in many other parts of the country, conversions of dalits to Islam to escape the “outcaste” status have been quite common since the mass conversion at Meenakshipuram in Tirunelveli district in the 1980s.

 ALLEGIANCE TO HINDUTVA FORCES

 The politics of the Ordinance becomes clear from these details, as also who it is directed against and on whose behalf it has been promulgated. It also comes in the wake of a concerted move by Jayalalitha to make a show of her allegiance to the Hindutva forces through her grand schemes of ‘Ananadhanam’ (free lunch) to devotees at big shrines, and spiritual classes on Sundays at these shrines. Again, according to the same The Hindu report, she herself launched these schemes at the Kapaleeshwar temple in Chennai in the strong presence of the BJP and Hindu outfits. Now they are being implemented in over 150 temples. Hindu outfits such as Hindu Munnani, which backed the AIADMK in the recent elections, have been demanding a ban on conversions.

 The Ordinance has been welcomed by the VHP and RSS, and even the BJP. Venkaiah naidu has clearly said, “We want a law covering the entire country under which action be taken against those indulging in conversion”. Such laws they said already exist in Orissa and MP, but were according to them, lamentably, not seriously implemented.

 MAKING HINDUTVA CADRES

 This entire issue of conversions needs to be seen in the light of the attacks against the Christians and Muslims all over the country in the last ten years since the demolition of the Babri Masjid, and the continuing aggressive campaigns against the minorities since then. We also need to be aware that for the first time those who the Hindutva forces see as targets of Christian propaganda, the tribals and dalits, were visible participants in sizeable numbers, in the carnage in Gujarat. While the VHP has been making a lot of noise about conversions by Christian organisations in Orissa, and using this leverage to justify the killing of Staines as result of spontaneous popular resentment, there have been any number of reports of conversions or re-conversions as the Sangh Parivar calls them, of tribals following the Staines murder by Hindutva forces. Dara Singh has been virtually given a folk hero status in the RSS shakha generated lore and has even been put up as electoral candidate by them in local elections.

 In the north-east the Sangh Parivar has virtually put in place an entire network, backed by government funds for ‘development’ of the north east (NE is given special status in this regard by this government) and for tribal welfare. Thousands of Ekal schools run by the VHP have been set up all over the country, and according to their own claims, the number within two to three years is to run into lakhs. Vanvasi Kalyan Parishad is a major front of the RSS, and much of the foreign funds meant for ‘charity’ and ‘welfare’ and ‘poverty alleviation’ collected throughout the world via outfits like Sewa International abroad, find their way into making tribals and dalits not only Hindus, but potential Hindutva cadres.

 One must also recall the massive rally in the capital some years back by Christian organisations demanding that dalit Christians be recognized by the Indian state and government as dalits, and that all benefits available to dalits remain available to them as their economic and unprivileged status remains unchanged even after they become Christians. It was an endorsement of the view that since no allurements and incentives have been offered to them, and they have gained nothing except equality in terms of being regarded as equal in human terms they should not lose the few benefits that the government offers them by way of affirmative action guaranteed by the Constitution due to their poverty and discrimination both of which continue in real and practical terms even after changing their religion. Also that withdrawing these benefits would amount to discrimination, which precludes a free choice of religion on the part of dalits.

 Most political parties tended to support this view, but the Hindutva forces were confronted with a situation that went against their whole strategy and campaign of Indian society divided along lines of religion. If dalits formed a political, social category across religions, and Christian dalits saw themselves as dalits and not primarily Christians, or if non Christian dalits saw themselves as dalits and not Hindus, and if a solidarity got built along lines other than religion, to reinforce the class solidarity rooted in their economic status, it could pose a tremendous obstacle to the Sangh Parivar’s strategy of recruiting them as storm troopers for the Hindutva forces. In the given political situation, marginalised groups in Indian society and the direction their politics takes, is as crucial to the Hindutva right wing forces as it is to the Left-democratic forces in the country.

 As John Zavos, a scholar on Hindutva, has pointed out in a forceful article on the question of conversions, the new assertiveness on the part of marginalized groups to assert identities different from those designed for them by the Sangh Parivar, challenge the hegemony of the concept of Hindu Rashtra, and is one major reason for the new aggressiveness on the part of the Hindutva forces on the conversions issue (‘Conversion and the Assertive Margins’, South Asia, vol. XIV, no. 2, pp. 73-89). The Hindutva forces are adopting their age-old tactic of creating divisions along religious lines, but the context in which they operate has changed.

 Therefore, the present campaign, and attempts to ban conversions are not simply continuations of the nineteenth century discourse against Christian missionaries and their identification with colonialism. It has to be located within the dynamics of the present day politics and the correlation of social and political forces, which threatens to get disturbed as a result of the assertion of the poor and the marginalized to demand equal status and the opposition that is growing against the liberalization policies of the government. The announcement of the Ordinance on religious conversions in Tamilnadu also saw announcements by this same government to ban strikes in essential services. In fact both were reported in the press on the same day, and the two announcements on the same day tell their story better than any academic analysis can.