India is constitutionally secular country. Right to religion is one of the fundamental rights of every citizen in India, which include the right of the individual to practice, profess and propagate their own religion without any interference of State under the ground of morality, health and public order, But many a time India as nation have faced major riots and communalism which is major black spot on the secularism for e.g. demolition of Babri Masjid, Gujarat riot on 2002, 1984 riot against Sikhs etc. Since BJP came to power in 2014 B.J.P there is spike on rising hatred against minorities, riots and communalism. Recently during Christmas, Christians in many parts of India have faced attack, Churches were broken, many were beaten up, Santa Claus were burnt publicly and hate speech were shouted on public places against Christians. In South Delhi Chhatarpur one Church was demolished by Bajrang Dal goons, In Khori, Haryana again Jesus statue and Church was demolished and many other places have witness the similar problem of attack on convent, Church, priest was beaten up etc.
According to the calls received by UCF Uttar Pradesh reported 66 hate crimes against Christians, followed by Chhattisgarh (47), Karnataka (32), Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh (30) each, which include cases like demolition of Churches, convents, Statue of Jesus, disruption of Christmas celebrations etc. Along with the attack on Churches the major attack on secularism and Indian constitution was Karnataka govt. passed the anti-secular bill called ‘anti-conversion’ bill. The anti-conversion bill is anti-constitution as the constitution of India gives freedom to every citizen to practice, profess and propagate their own religion, which also include the choice of the adult to choose any religion or not too.
3. False narrative about Dalit’s conversion into Christianity
The narrative that is set by the present government and sold in social media about conversion into Christianity majorly by Dalit community is that they are lured and converted. They are converted against the exchange of money and few objects. Often in social media many Dalit Christians have faced online abuses where they are termed as ‘rice bag converts’ means converted against the exchange of one bag of rice. But the reality is far away from the narrative set by the government led by the Hindutava forces and sold by the IT cells in social media.
Dalit are the lowest within Hindu religion, historically they were denied of basic human rights like Dalit cannot use the services of barber, wells, rivers, markets which are used by the upper caste in the village, they are forced to live in outskirt region of the village, never allowed to enter the temple and forced to do all kinds of odd jobs like cleaning the toilets, construction etc. where they were denied of payment. The Dalit were denied of self-respect. So, Dalit’s conversion to Christianity or any other religion is/was a rebellious act against the caste slavery, an outcry against historical injustice and a major movement for self-respect. It is not only a rebellious act for their own self-respect but also a major challenge against the motto of the Hindutava groups called ‘Hindu Rashtra’. Hindu religion is based on the system called caste system where one dominates over the other. So, the rule of Hindus in Hindu Rashtra would be the rule of Upper Caste over the Dalit, the dominance of Upper caste over the Dalit.
The conversion of the Dalit into Christianity put a set back to their atrocious dream called formation of Hindu Rashtra.
