Mixing religion and politics and producing bigotry

I was horrified over the Punjab government's decision to provide members of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), a religious body, with gunmen and red beacon lights on their vehicles. These symbols of authority are said to be a reward to the SGPC members for their "loyalty" to chief minister Prakash Singh Badal. The loyalty factor never gets satiated and would demand more and more as the days go by.

What worries me is the extent to which the Akali Dal-led government can go even when the treasury is empty. Otherwise also this kind of burden on the public exchequer is neither permissible nor justified.

Similar concessions must be in the pipeline for Hindu organizations in the state because the BJP is the coalition partner in the government. The manner in which the BJP stalled the withdrawal of subsidy to electricity in cities has indicated the clout it has. If Gurdwara functionaries can get gunmen and beacon lights on their vehicles, why not the Hindu mahants and the few maulavis since a substantial number of Muslims have come to live in the state?

I shudder to imagine the repercussions if chief ministers of other states were to follow the Punjab example. Congress chief minister N.D. Tewari reportedly lost at the polls in Uttrakhand, the state seceded from UP, because he would give beacon light vehicles to every loud opponent. The voters took their revenge at the time of election since they had suffered the nuisance of beacon light vehicles.

Badal has not faced such a situation yet. But a few such mistakes can cost him dear. The worst trait of Akalis is that they mix religion with politics. After reducing the state to less than half of its original size by unthinkingly pursuing the demand for Punjabi Suba to get a Sikh majority, the Akalis should have been chastened and given up their obsession with religion. They should have concentrated on more important things like the development of Punjab which is languishing because of neglect. Forward-looking Punjabis have little scope in the small area to which the state is reduced. Can Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh think of a sub-federation retaining their identity and legislature but having common subjects like water, roads and planning? Both Haryana and Himachal are very close to the Punjabi language and Punjabi culture.

Coming to the state, Punjab once enjoyed the highest standard of living in the country. Today it is way down. Not finding enough openings in their own state, the people are going abroad, whatever the cost. Depressed as they are, they have taken to drugs. The youth wonder how it should fashion the future, something which the state government should be worried about. The SGPC members can take care of themselves since the Gurdwaras in Punjab earn millions.

Punjab in Pakistan, despite the pressure of fundamentalists, has not mixed religion with politics. Religious parties on their own did not get more than four to five seats in the National Assembly although General Zia-ul Haq did everything to help them. It was General Pervez Musharraf who rigged elections in such a way that he reduced the space for liberal members and brought in religious parties which were once his main support.

In fact, mixing religion with politics has been the bane of India. The country has suffered because of this malady. Still some political parties like the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra and the Akali Dal have not changed their course because they have found that by plugging the religious line they have gained at the polls. What they have not realized is the harm they have done to the polity.

Every religion has noble teachings and lofty moral goals. Yet, in each religion these high standards are often far removed from what that religion seems to be in its actual thought and practices of most of its followers. Take the case of Taslima Nasreen. She is a courageous writer from Bangladesh. Her fault is not that she is less Muslim but that she wants Muslims to remember the teachings of Islam of equality, tolerance and submission. Still she was hounded from her country because she said those who raped women of the minority community vilified Islam.

It is sad to see that the Muslims of fundamental leanings in India are following their counterparts in Bangladesh. They too cannot tolerate dissent although they swear by the freedom of expression. What it means to them is their own freedom to say or write in their bigoted way.

The question that Taslima's case has raised in India is whether its democratic, secular society has a place for a political refugee or whether the fanatic forces would dictate their terms. Even a person like former chief minister Farooq Abdullah has said that Taslima must apologise. What for? Her fault is that she dared the mullahs and maulavis in Bangladesh. It pains me when West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refuses to answer the question whether Taslima can return to Kolkata where she has been living.

True, a visa is issued by the centre. But when it does so, it has the authority on behalf of all the states. Our country's federal structure does not give a state any right to stall the working of subjects which the constitution has given to the centre. Visa is one of them. West Bengal cannot say that Taslima will not stay in the state. I suspect something fishy about the faceless Muslim organization which raised the question of her visa along with the protest against the Marxist mayhem in Nandigram.

Maybe, she has come in handy to divert the attention from Nandigram. The CPM could not have imagined anything better. While the country is debating the case of Taslima, it should also discuss M.F. Hussain, India's topmost painter whom Hindu zealots are not allowing to return. How he paints is his prerogative as is that of Taslima about what she writes. This is the freedom of expression which our constitution guarantees.

Yet, the way in which Hussain has been treated indicates that the pro-Hindu elements are there to destroy the constitutional right. The propaganda by the parties which have made religion as their tool is contaminating the nation. There is only a thin dividing line between right and wrong, moral and immoral. That line is getting erased rapidly. Bigotry is raising its ugly head. It is a pity.

(The writer is a veteran Indian journalist and former diplomat. He was also one-time member of the Rajya Sabha, upper house of the Indian Parliament.)