INDIAN lower house of the parliament on Wednesday witnessed noisy scenes when the Congress and the AIADMK lawmakers raised the issue of desecration of a church in Hisar in Haryana, the rape of a nun in West Bengal and a communally objectionable statement made by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in Assam, as per a report of a local daily.Raising the issue, Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said, “I want to draw the attention of my colleagues to the growing fear among people and rising incidents of religious intolerance. A church was desecrated in Hisar in Haryana, and the state government said legal papers were not available. Can that be a reason (for destroying a church)?”Gogoi also pointed out that a national executive member from the BJP had visited Assam and made objectionable statements. He was referring to a statement made by senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy in Assam: he reportedly said mosques and churches are mere “buildings” to offer prayers, and therefore there was “no problem in demolishing them. “The AIADMK’s PB Venugopal, echoing Gogoi on the issue, said, “India is a secular country and all politicians must avoid glorifying any one religion.”Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, then rose to his feet to support the Trinamool Congress, but went on to dissociate his government from the communal episodes in Haryana and West Bengal, and his party from Swamy’s statement in Assam.It is most unfortunate that a senior leader of the BJP denigrates other religions by referring to their houses of worship as mere buildings. BJP must educate its leaders to remind them that while once they may have responded to communal forces and were active in making negative statements and carrying out incendiary activities against other religions, that time no longer exists today.BJP won its majority in the Indian Parliament due to two main factors – one, the strong anti-incumbency factor, and secondly, but more importantly, the Team Modi effect. Modi projected himself as a viable and more dynamic substitute to the tired old leaders of the Congress – a fact which resonated with many voters. He pushed himself to cover the entire country and made sure that he was never far from the public purview – unlike the Congress Party, whose main icon, Rahul Gandhi, was seen as inexperienced when giving his first public interview.Both of these reasons are not strong enough for BJP to feel that it can say and do anything it wants – especially if saying anything makes one feel that it is going to the roots of its communal past. Understanding this and acting proactively instead of making clever comments on the destruction of churches is not the way a national party should behave – especially since Indian elections will be won in the future by the casting of the multi ethnic, multi religious vote.
