Ghar Wapsi- Mission Reconversion

                                                               Ghar Wapsi- Mission Reconversion

Newspapers headline Ghar wapsi. The TV channels endlessly have a haranguing match about the validity of Ghar wapsi.  The belligerent Hindu crowds with swords and spears roar “Ghar Wapsi.” India watches in bewildered silence as it gets a new identity as Hindu nation and it is no longer Bharat but Hindustan. We have created  a new vocabulary that may enter the Oxford English Dictionary given the huge Indian population estimated at 1.27 billion. We need not be surprised by the  addition of  two more words to the list of new words for the year 2014  reflective of the changes in language and culture of a large majority of Hindus who account for 1.06 billion. It does not matter if these two potent words -“Love Jihad” and “Ghar Wapsi” spiral towards a frightening and retarding mental development. The alarming fact is these words are no longer the monopoly of the rabid Hindus, but are adopted by the fanatic zealots of other religions that include the peace loving Buddhists, the evangelical Christians, the humanistic and pragmatic Sikhs and Muslims,the second largest religious group in the world. The reports of Christians converting Hindus into their fold,  Muslims seeking to counter the belligerent conversion of its flock to Hinduism and Sikhs trying to convert Christians back into Sikhism  and Buddhists seeking to reconvert Hindus  who had earlier converted to Buddhism are making headlines everyday as an audacious response  to the Ghar wapsi(homecoming) ritual of Hindus  of reconverting Muslims and Christians to their fold.  The nation which had till now attracted the attention and admiration of the world as a multi-religious pluralistic society is now in the grip of religious dissension and polarization. The change of guard at the centre has emboldened a group of fundamentalists to raise the bogey of forced or induced conversion and embark on Mission Reconversion.

It has been borne by history that many of the Christians in India had earlier belonged either to the tribal community or were those who had been relegated to the untouchable lower castes - in short, those who were deemed to be born into no religion and  had been cast aside by Hindu casteists.  Since  these faceless groups adopted  either  Islam or Christianity or Buddhism or any other faith, they and their succeeding generations have now  a rightful inheritance to the adopted religion.    In this context, it is worth recalling  Karl Marx  who said “man makes religion; religion does not make man. Religion is the self consciousness and self esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again …Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people". By quoting only the last sentence out of context, we have not been able to understand the truthful reality he expounded. The truth is religion as it was and as it is practised today represents economic injustice and exploitation of the poor and the depressed. Hinduism had never properly understood the concept of ‘Chaturvarna” system that was originally created for the social growth of the society and the spiritual growth of the individual. Though divided into four categories into which a person was born, the idea behind it was to allow the individual to do the job s/he is best suited for. There was no hierarchical ranking of the four categories. But the modern Hindus have tweaked this to relegate those doing physical labourand menial jobs  as the untouchables with no entry into their religion and temples.  The dalits, the OBCS and the tribals have suffered ignominy by being outcasts of the society and this , in turn made them embrace any religion that opened its doors to them.

So this reconversion or Ghar wapsi raises a fundamental question : which Ghar they have to return when the only Ghar they have is the religion they have embraced. So Ghar wapsi is  prima facie a wrong phrase as there is no ghar for wapsi(return). Yet another problem is the fanatic fringe group that bays for reconversion to Hinduism is actually not reconverting but converting other religious believers into its fold. This goes against the core of Hinduism which is the one religion that is opposed to proselytisation. The coming to power of the rightwing BJP which used Hindutva as its election mascot has fuelled the freneticism of the fringe groups of the party to make conversion a rightful and legal procedure even if it goes against the Constitutional affirmation that India is a secular nation. Their ignorance of Hinduism is reflected in their inability to see that everyone has a right to choose and follow his faith and that  no religion-in particular Hinduism -can thrust itself on those who have opted for a religion that satisfies their spiritual thirst. In fact these half literate religious exponents have not read Emperor Ashoka’s famous saying: “There should not be honour of one’s own (religious) sect and condemnation of others without any grounds.” Similarly Love Jihad is yet another unthinking attempt to prevent marriages between Hindu girls and Muslim boys, seeing communal ghosts where there are none.

These phrases have come to stay at least in the Indian-English dictionary. If they get accepted by Oxford English Dictionary, the fall out will be a major global disaster. All the Protestants in England and in Ireland will be asked to do a Ghar wapsi and return to the Catholic fold or face dire consequences. The Hindus in the Eelam region will be asked to convert to Buddhism. Israel will insist on all Palestinians to accept Judaism if they wish to stay in Israel and vice versa.  The Russian Orthodox Church(ROC) that was eliminated by the communist revolution of 1917 has now partially returned to fill the ideological vacuum left by the bankruptcy of Communism and it may seek the return of all Russians and all those in the eastern and Southern Europe  to ROC under the Ghar wapsi concept. Migration to any nation will be ruled out and every migrant should do a ghar wapsi if he does not convert to the majority religion of the nation he wishes to migrate.

The Indians known for their tolerance and acceptance of all faiths, who celebrate all festivals of all religions have shown to the world in the last 67 years what it is to be human  which cannot be  determined by his/her religion. WhileSamuel Huntingdon and others talked about the clash of civilizations, we showed to the world that this country believed in co-existence and would not allow to be divided on the basis of religion. We have the exampleo of monotheistic religion in Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and the Middle east where clashes between sects of the same religion are an everyday affair resulting in the killings of many thousands of innocent people. India which has stood firm with its political, social, religious and cultural pluralism is now wending its way to Hindu Rashtra without realizing the bloody consequences of such an attempt.

Globalization will be passé. What could have paved the way for co-existence, enhancement and enrichment of different  cultures and religions will now  unfortunately yield to  religious and cultural atavism citing divine sanction for enforcing religious uniformity and  identity. “Cultural origin is the new aristocratism of the masses.  The emphasis on difference, which in principle should have made us more sensitive to the existence of others, has on the contrary mainly served to sharpen our craving for identity. Every culture is arrogating to itself the right to be inhuman, and cultural rights are the prerogatives of the inhuman.”

Can 2015 reconvert the Hindu Zealots to the multireligious, multicultural and multilingual India that has been not only a pride to all of us but has served as a beacon light to the world to forge  inter-religious faith among humanity? Let us work for Mission Reconversion in the new year and foster the concept of One Planet, one Mankind.