Let dialogue prevail over emotions in Gujarat
In the wake of the demolition of a Muslim tomb in Vadodara and violence that consequently exploded in the city, we are publishing some reflections of a renowned human rights activist in Gujarat: do not be guided by instincts in religious matters, dialogue should take priority.
Vadodara (AsiaNews) The recent demolition of the Dargah (tomb of a holy Sufi) in Vadodara, by an insensitive administration, has literally stirred the proverbial "hornet's nest". The question being debated is whether illegal "religious shrines" can and should be demolished, even if they constitute a hindrance to traffic and to the public at large?
On 1 May, the authorities of Vadodara demolished the Rashiduddin Chishti dargah, because it was built on state-owned land and because it presented an obstacle to traffic. The episode paved the way for protests by the Muslim community that the police sought to quell with armed force. Extremist Hindus fanned the flames with attacks targeting Muslims. Six people were killed in three days of fighting.
One does not need to go far to see how religion has been used very effectively to manipulative people for petty political games. For many people, the essence of their religious beliefs is often equated with external trappings: the festivals and the rituals, the practices and the pilgrimages, the shrines and the superstitions! Very often when these trappings are touched, dialogue does take a back seat and only powerful emotions hold sway.
The recent Supreme Court judgment, staying the order of the Gujarat High Court directing the authorities to remove all illegal religious structures, does make a valid point. Can we afford to set the communal tinderbox aflame over and over again? The fact of the matter is that the authorities in Vadodara and the politicians in league with them, together with a compliant police force, were hell bent on destroying a dargah which is rooted in India's syncretic culture and traditions. The dargah believed to be more than 200 years old, belonged to the realm of heritage and in no way should have been touched. Every angle of this act of demolition demonstrates that it was not only unconstitutional but clearly discriminatory.
It is also clear that since 2002, the year of the "Gujurat massacre", it is mainly the dargah and mazhars, Muslim places of worship, that have been singled out for demolition in Gujarat. This very selective approach is bound to have repercussions and to widen the rift between the adherents of the two major religions of the State.
We need to look at this raging debate impassionately. The administration does have a responsibility to promote and protect free public space for its citizens. They need to address the thousands of shrines (legal and illegal), that keep mushrooming all over the city as an expression of "religious sentiments". Many of these shrines are built overnight and more often than not, are convenient ways for the utilization of black money and/or as a commercial enterprise for generating money. They are public hazards and often are the cause of accidents. Any city administration has to act expeditiously and impartially, and demolish those that have been built without permission.
For this, they must seek the active cooperation of all stakeholders, including the so-called "religious leaders". When the issue tends to become extra-sensitive, respectful dialogue has to be initiated, which will hopefully satisfy all concerned.
Above all, as citizens, we have to realize that true religion is in love, compassion, justice, peace, brotherhood. All of us could well take a cue from our Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore who in his Gitanjali writes:
Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads!/Whom dost thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors all shut?/Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee!/He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground/and where the pathmaker is breaking stones/He is with them in sun and in shower/and his garment is covered with dust/Put off thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil!
* Director of Prashant, a human rights, justice and peace centre run by the Jesuits
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