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TidBits.008 ( GOVERNANCE + RELIGION = HINDUTVA) And it is said that old age makes a person senile. And to me, anyone, specially a political leader, who talk about governance with religious connotations, must be senile, that is, in other words, totally bankrupt of thought processs. The statement made by our dear Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee, published in NT 7 Feb 2003 page 7, that " Governance requires perfect blend of religion and power", and coming as it is, in these times of extreme government sponsored religious fundamentalism, is nothing short of the symptoms of senility. Mr. Vajpayee, knowingly or unknowingly, seems to have taken leave of his senses. I would interpret his above statement as the indicator of his BJP's fortunes arising out of the demolition of Babri Masjid. "Aisa nahi hai ki ham bakti ras mein doobe hai to akraman ya atankvad se dar jayenge (It is not that we are immersed in religion so much that we can not counter the attack on us or terrorism)" With due respect to Mr. Vajpayee and his intelligence, these words do not seem right coming from India's Prime Minister. First of all, India is not supposed to be immersed in religion at governance level. We are a 'secular state' for God's sake, with a very secular Constitution. We are not a theocratic state as yet, as much as Mr. Vajpayee and his Hindutva camp would like it to be. If what he says is true, then we would'nt have had Kargil. If it was true, then our parliament would'nt have been attacked by terrorists. If it was true, India would'nt have the need for Israel to train our special anti-terrorist commandos in that country at the expense of the tax payers. All this only proves that religious bigots, or, pseudo religious bigots and pious pretenders, whatever one may want to call them, have taken over the reins of governance of this country and botched it up so bad, that not only our national security is under threat but the nation has lost a great deal of self- respect as well as the respect of the nations of the world who looked at India as the towering mountain of secularism and a stable democracy. And the respect for India that still exists in the world is fast diminishing with utterances like these from our political thinkers and political leaders. That religions have been responsible for endless miseries, strifes, deaths and devastation worldwide for centuries is a fact that cannot be denied. History books are replete with the gory details of these accounts. Whenever religious sentiments have entered governance, it has never been impartial and effective. Infact, entry of religious sentiments in governance has always left its indelible marks. For political and power hungry vultures of our country (read VHP, RSS, BD, SS etc) religion , today, has become the horse to mount and charge from, and to achieve the otherwise impossible and futile dreams, by flogging it to its bare bones. U.S.A. is a largely homogeneous Christian nation. And in spite of a massive Evangelical movement within and without, the only religious sentimentality we see in its governance are the words "IN GOD WE TRUST" inscribed on each and every of its currency notes. The rest is dictated by the laws of the land. And none , repeat, none of its citizens, including its President, who is considered to be the most powerful person living on earth, can be above Law. If India could apply the same yardstick in governance, a few of our Prime ministers, a load of ministers, parliamentarians, state political leaders, bureaucrats and civil servants would be behind bars or breaking rocks at Kalapani, the Andaman Island jails. And for sure, our esteemed Deputy Prime Minister, Mr. Lal Krishna Advani, who is also our country's Home Minister, would be doing just that for ushering in religious fundamentalism in our country's governance for his own selfish ends, thereby corrupting our constitutionally guaranteed secular democracy, which is the raison d'etre of this nation. Good Governance is ruled by laws of the land. Intrusion of religion in governance makes the laws impotent. In the eyes of law, it does not matter whether one is a Hindu , Muslim, Christian or whatever. You disobey the law, you get punished. You don't like the law, change it, cancel it, dilute it. This is the power of democracy. If the people so want, they can altogether throw out all laws and be done with it. In that case, you have 'anarchy' , not 'governance'. So be it. But if there is a law book in existence, it is the responsibility of the government to go by this book and implement the laws in letter and spirit. As one example of how the laws of the land are being diluted through religious sentiments, I would like to say here that this has been my major, personal fight for the last 20 years, and it still is. It is the indiscriminate use of public address systems by religious places of worships, violating the laws on noise pollution and the 10 p.m. deadline ban. Even senior police officers buckle down when confronted with taking cognition of such violations. "This is a sensitive matter which must be tread with caution" they say. On one occasion, I have had to ask a senior Police Officer: "What is your problem? I am the complainant. You act on my complaint. Whether it has anything to do with religion or not, it is not your business. You determine if the law is violated. If so, act according to the law and penalize the violator" In most cases, the police officers do not want to face their political masters who are the experts at doing the rope-walk balancing act to stay in power and popularity. Anything that will not get them the votes must not be touched. Perhaps, this is the major flaw of the democratic process of governance. If I am to comment on 'governance' which is being invariably dished out as 'good governance' today, I would say that it is 'to be selective' in applying the laws, if not to condone violations of laws altogether. If we are to have good governance, it is imperative that the governments remain neutral or isolated from religion. "Your religion and you, a private matter altogether" If this becomes a reality then all religious displays in government offices and government institutions must cease. That means, no religious displays and celebrations of religious rites and festivals at police stations, municipalities, panchayats, collectorates, state assembly complexes, raj bhavans etc. We already have more than our share of legal as well as illegal places of worship to do that. Also religious displays in all public transport vehicles, either government or private, must cease. It would also be sensible not to display the pictures of past political leaders in any of the public offices and institutions. Without doubt all of these men and women have been exemplary in serving the nation. But, all the same, they could'nt have been without defects and/or short-comings too. Governance cannot afford to have defects and short comings. Therefore, it would be more sensible to display the national colours instead, because, it stands for the nation as a whole, as the uniting and patriotic factor representing the might of the country's Constitution, its laws, statutes, rules and regulations. Governments responsible for the governance are seen pandering to religious establishments, to make them the tourist attractions. This has lead to one-upmanship where one place of worship is competing with the other in opulence and artistic extravagance to get recognition from the government for grants. If we come to our senses, we will realize that places of worship are sacred, private to individuals and a matter of faith and devotion. They are hardly to be operated as tourist spots and art galleries, to show off the images of gods cut in marbles and inlaid with silver and gold. If the places of worship should be developed as tourist spots, it should be well outside the purview of the state, for there are thousand and one other places that the governments can concentrate upon to develop as tourist attractions. Why temples and churches, and mosques and gurudwaras? Instead, it could be our roads, easy and orderly parking areas, good traffic regulation, effective law and order with quality police vigilance, sanitation and hygiene and a whole lot more where the crores of rupees from the tax-payers money will find better use. If we desire to attain good governance, we must start by demolishing each and every religious place of worship built illegally with a moratorium on new constructions. It is ironical and immoral that people should worship their gods in places which have been built with total disregard to the laws of the land as well as the laws of the gods they worship. Most often one sees a huge congregation engaged in a cacophony of sound and noise at the illegally built place of worship when the regular place of worship, a mere stone throwing distance away is empty and silent. This itself goes against the basic tenets of religious purity of action which contributes to the corrosion of basic moral values of people, faithfully reflected in the governance at large. The taste of the pudding is in its eating. Which government will embark on such an exercise which will bankrupt its vote banks? Which government wants to be unpopular with the masses and get kicked out in the next elections? You show me such a government and I will show you good governance. Some years ago, Ivory Coast (Abidjan) has built a Cathedral at a cost of more than half a million dollars , of such opulence, that even the Pope, when invited to inaugurate the same, felt extremely uneasy. At His request, the government built a modern hospital which His Holiness could inaugurate simultaneously to make things easier on his conscience . We see that Ivory Coast, today, is a land of strife, death, mayhem and starvation with no governance in place. Therefore, if Mr. Vajpayee would prefer to be euphoric on "BHAKTI and SHAKTI", let it remain in the domain of individuality. Getting it mixed in the governance of a complex country such as India is an unmistakable suicide. As the country's PM, he must realize that, in governance, there is no such thing as a majority or a minority, there is no such thing as hindus and muslims and christians. There is no such thing as "the minority must respect the majority if it wants to live in peace". In GOVERNANCE, every individual citizen of this country is equal in the eyes of law, if such a law exists. And to the best of my knowledge, this law does exist, even today, in our constitution. So, get on with the governance, Mr. Atal Behari Vajpayee. Let religions stay where they belonged for the last 56 years since independence. Cheers Floriano
