NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday promised protection to religious minorities to practise and choose their religion, an assurance that seemed to flow from a crushing defeat in the recent Delhi polls and considerable prodding by the Obama administration.

His offer to protect the right to ‘adopt’ a religion appeared to be a watered down version of right to ‘profess’ a religion enshrined in India’s secular constitution.

After remaining silent over the campaign of reconverting Muslims and Christians to the Hindu fold led by the extreme fringe in his Bharatiya Janata Party, Mr Modi made a relatively powerful intervention on the side of freedom and tolerance on Tuesday.

He underscored his commitment to protect the right of every individual to adopt and retain the religion of their choice.

With leaders of the Christian community, priests and nuns on stage at a religious function, Mr Modi said: “My government will ensure that there is complete freedom of faith and that everyone has the undeniable right to retain or adopt the religion of his or her choice without coercion or undue influence.

“My government will not allow any religious group, belonging to the majority or the minority, to incite hatred against others, overtly or covertly. Mine will be a government that gives equal respect to all religions,” he told a gathering held to celebrate the sainthood of Kuriakose Elias Chavara and Mother Euphrasia.

Mr Modi quoted from the Declaration of the Interfaith Conference of 2008 in The Hague: “We consider the freedom to have, to retain, and to adopt, a religion or belief, is a personal choice of a citizen.” India, he added, is the land of the Buddha and Mahatma Gandhi, and “equal respect for all religions must be in the DNA of every Indian”.

The pledge comes a week after BJP’s defeat in Delhi polls

“We cannot accept violence against any religion on any pretext, and I strongly condemn such violence,” Mr Modi said. “My government will strongly act in this regard.”

He appealed to all religious groups to act with restraint, mutual respect and tolerance in the “true spirit of this ancient nation which is manifest in our constitution”.

Since the beginning of December 2014, five churches have been attacked in Delhi and two convents have been broken into. The Indian Express said a large part of one of the churches has been gutted entirely.

The Christian community has repeatedly expressed its insecurity and apprehension and, after the break-in and theft at the Holy Child Auxilium last week, the PM had summoned Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi for an explanation.

Mr Modi’s reiteration of the constitutional freedom of religion and his government’s resolve to defend it comes after a series of statements over the last nine months from members of the BJP and larger Sangh Parivar, stressing India’s alleged ‘Hindu’ identity.

Tuesday’s promise came a week after Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party inflicted a crushing defeat on the BJP in the Delhi elections — a result seen to reflect, to some extent, anger and annoyance with the shrill Hindu rhetoric employed by some campaigners.

The world, Mr Modi said, was at a crossroads, and if the transition was not negotiated with care, it could be thrown back to the dark days of bigotry, fanaticism and bloodshed. He referred to the Rig Veda, Swami Vivekananda and Rabindranath Tagore to highlight India’s tradition of tolerance, spiritualism and respect for all faiths.

Quoting from the Rig Veda, he said that India had always been open to new thoughts. “This philosophy has guided our intellectual discourse since time immemorial. Mother India gave birth to many religious and spiritual streams. Some of them have even travelled beyond Indian borders,” he said.

Mr Modi also reiterated his vision of “sabka saath, sabka vikas”, and said it meant food on every table, every child in school, a job for everyone, and a home with a toilet and electricity for every family — a dream that could be realised only through unity among all Indians.

Published in Dawn February 18th , 2015

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