Religious Violence — A damper on secularity
With more than 125 crore people, 29 states, nine religions and rich cultural history, India is one of the most diverse countries in the world. In a secular nation like ours, religious activities take place in every corner. Some of these activities are a blissful experience for one and all, while some are gruesome and gory. With the growth of Indian democracy after Independence, religion has grown to become an institution, an institution whose members are none other than those who believe in the higher power known as God. This higher power manifests itself in various forms in each religion, each form having its own rules of worship and various other customs and practices. Lord Shiva, for example, wields a trident and has a snake around his neck; Jesus, on the other hand, is shown as a saint while Lord Buddha is depicted as a meditating person.
The followers of each of these forms hail from varied economic, social and religious backgrounds, each having a different purpose. Religious faith, for most people, is a reassurance, that some entity safeguards them, even when they are alone. This faith, however, takes a dark turn, when used as a tool to justify any and every act in the name of God. An infamous example of this is the ideology of the terrorist organization ISIS, which claims every act in the name of jihad or ‘holy war.’. This ideology of the ISIS places Islam above all religions, thus giving way to violence against all those who don’t preach it.
Another example is the more recent Kanwariya incident in the capital city of India, i.e., New Delhi. The Kanwariyas is a group of the worshippers of Lord Shiva, who go on an annual pilgrimage to fetch the holy water of the Ganges River and disperse it as a sacred offering at their local Shiva shrines. Millions of devotees pass through major Indian cities during this journey and lead to chaos in them. The incident mentioned above is just a drop in the ocean of the mayhem. It so happened that a woman driving by a procession of this group brushed against one of their members. Instead of accepting the woman’s apology, the crowd surrounded the woman’s car and started vandalizing it.
Since India is a secular nation, no political institution can interfere in religious affairs — be it such type of processions or killings in the name of religion. Thus, the police constables in the vicinity of the incident couldn’t take prompt action to stop this unruly activity. The secularity of the nation is misused by such groups to perpetrate heinous crimes against innocent civilians.
Misuse of religion is not merely limited to violence against some individuals. Political parties use religion as an agenda to enforce their ideology on the masses. Political parties which endorse citizens who preach Hinduism initiate a beef-ban policy in the cities and states they are competing for. This leads to the development of a vote bank purely based on religion, which gives a particular party an unfair advantage in the elections. Developments like these also hamper the democratic principle of a fair election, thus demolishing one of the most important pillars of the country’s political system.
Situations of political unrest may also arise out of religious causes. The demolition of the Babri Masjid and the Anti-Sikh riots of 1984 are haunting memories of the same. Episodes like these lead to inter-communal conflicts and disrupt the peace of the country.
The incidents and arguments mentioned above lead to a single logical conclusion, which is — religion cannot be used to justify any and every unjust act. It is one thing to have faith in a higher power, but to use this faith as a tool to spread violence is outright unacceptable.
