India- The most religious country with much intolerance and corruption

Thanggoulen Kipgen *

"This country (India) is considered a religious country, but a lot of corruption is taking place...". Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama said while addressing the sixth convocation ceremony of the Martin Luther Christian University in Shillong in February 2014.

Religion in India is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. India is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions; namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Throughout India's history, religion has been an important part of the country's culture. Religious diversity and religious tolerance are both established in the country by the law and custom.

The recent resurgence of religiosity has been associated with the growth of intolerance and, in some cases, the outbreak of conflict in the country. Intolerance is the unwillingness to extend political, economic, and social rights to other ethnic groups, regardless of perceived similarities or differences in basic values, norms, or beliefs.

The history of India is the history of syncretism among religious traditions as well as conflict between religious communities. Gandhi and like-minded people, especially the Muslim theologian and politician Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and the secularist Jawaharlal Nehru, could not stem the tide of communalism. India was partitioned in 1947 and the Islamic state of Pakistan was born in the midst of communal riots on an unprecedented scale, resulting in the killing of thousands of Hindus, Muslims, and Sikhs in many parts of the subcontinent.

In 2002, Hindus in Gujarat killed several hundred Muslims, with the collaboration of public officials and the police. Europe has recently seen a frightening rebirth of anti-Semitism, while the appeal of radical forms of Islam appears to be increasing in the Muslim world. Prejudice against Muslims and a tendency to equate Islam with terrorism are too prominent in the United States.

On and on it goes. Two ideas typically foster religious intolerance and disrespect. The first is that one's own religion is the only true religion and that other religions are false or morally incorrect. Much more dangerous is the second idea, that the state and private citizens should coerce people into adhering to the "correct" religious approach. It's an idea that is catching on, even in many modern democracies. Hindu right wing's repeated claims that minorities in India must become part of Hindu culture are disturbing recent examples.

Mahatma Gandhi once said, "Personally, I think the world as a whole will never have, and need not have, a single religion". In 1948, Gandhi insisted that not only should India be a state without a religion but, more importantly, that there should be affirmative action in favour of the minorities. Jawaharlal Nehru was one rationalist who committed independent India to be religiously tolerant. Andre Malraux once asked him - what his greatest difficulty had been since Independence. Nehru had replied, "Creating a just state by just means," and, after a pause, "Perhaps, too, creating a secular state in a religious country."There is no doubt that communal politics, which had been weakened considerably in the wake of Gandhi's martyrdom, has become strident again.

In spring 1998 the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena state administration failed to extend the investigation of the Srikrishna Commission Report, which had been established to inquire into the causes of the Mumbai riots in December 1992-January 1993 following Ayodhya. Terrorizing other religious minorities, such as Christians, acts of intimidation, harassment, and violence commenced in summer 1998. Churches were desecrated; nuns and priests were attacked and murdered; and corpses were exhumed in the tribal belt of Gujarat, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh. Although never proven, many suspected the VHP's involvement.

These were few examples of the manifestations of communal politics after Gandhi's assassination. Major other post-independence communal conflicts include the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots, which followed Operation Blue Star by the Indian Army which triggered Indira Gandhi's assassination. The latest incident being the Muzaffarnagar riots 2013 where serious violence took place between Hindus and Muslim youths in Uttar Pradesh.

Corruption is the abuse of public office for private gain. Dr.Radhakrishnan once remarked that corruption was an evil which had to be fought on all fronts and at all levels. In our society, there is only an anaemic opinion against taking bribes. These people, apparently, are regarded as respectable members of the community. Society does not look down upon them. There is no social sanction against taking bribes. In fact, the disease goes deeper, for we do not hesitate to offer spiritual bribes. Surely, people who are not afraid of offering bribe to a spiritual god will not hesitate to offer it to a temporal god or his agent. The offering of spiritual bribes in our country is an indication of a serious disease in our society

Here is a new content for social education. Our people must be saturated with the idea that those who offer and take bribes are committing a sin both against society and religion. In fact what is needed is a new definition of sin: a sin is not only an offence against God i.e. religion but also an offence against society. This will help the essential building up of a strong public opinion against those who have accumulated wealth through unsocial means.

In Manipur itself corruption is thriving very well. Corruption is a multifocal universal eternity in our state which knows no bounds and is endless as eternity and universal as the cosmic system. Needless to say that its area of operationalization is too wide and includes all branches of administration and that it covers practically every organ of government and the germs have penetrated deep into our veins and arteries which appear beyond detection of even laser surgery.

The Right to Information Movement in India has had significant success in bringing corrupt bureaucrats to account. Anti-corruption Anna Hazare has a high profile and is, rightly, celebrated for speaking out against corruption at personal risk and almost single-handedly fighting for the passage of the Lokpal Bill in the parliament.

Today, when the world has been forced to move towards multiculturalism and syncretism, it is time for us to take our place on the world stage and declare proudly that we have the answer to harmonious co-existence. We are there because the world needs us and we need to be ourselves. We are a secular people and so long as we remain so, India will prevail. The day we cease to be secular and corruption remains unchecked will be the day when India will cease to be the country of whom we are so proud. Perhaps, then, it won't deserve to last.