Debate circling the forced conversions of Muslims and Christians to Hinduism has paralysed the Indian parliament and, by all accounts, it seems to have affected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s powers of speech.
Though some ministers have clarified that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its hardline elements do not support forced conversion, or “reconversion”, it is imperative in the eyes of a secular nation that the prime minister address this controversy and reassure the minorities. The Indian Constitution’s Article 25 guarantees freedom of religion to all. It is a fundamental right. A person’s faith is his private matter, thereby not allowing the state to encroach upon it. Modi is under oath as Prime Minister to safeguard this freedom and so far he has not risen up to the occasion to fulfil this basic duty. The current furore bears shades of the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) rule when controversies threatened to stall parliament and, in this case, it could thwart the government’s development agenda.
Modi must remember that Indians as a whole voted for economic development and well-being and definitely not for a Hindu rashtra (nation) — a theory propagated vigorously by the hardline elements in the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. The prime minister must now exercise his authority and muzzle the voices of those who seek to sow the seeds of communal unrest in India. The parliament is the ideal venue to make himself heard and he must lay out the government’s approach with clarity. The focus must shift back immediately to governance and economic development. Faith is not a topic for legislation, but when it acts as a hindrance to a nation’s progress then it could blow apart Modi’s theory of ‘minimum government, maximum governance’.
