Did Jesus Christ walk on water? Did he convert water into wine with his touch? Did the Red Sea part allowing Moses to lead his followers to the Promised Land? Is the relic preserved and worshipped at Srinagar's Hazratbal mosque genuinely a strand of the Prophet's hair? Is the tooth on display at the Anuradhapura temple in Sri Lanka indeed that of Lord Buddha? Did Mother Teresa or her many predecessors actually perform the miracles associated with them? So-called rationalists would scoff at each of these "myths". But religion is not mere philosophy; it is also a body of beliefs passed on from generation to generation.

This composite belief system is a matter of both individual and collective faith and does not lend itself to dissection through the scalpel of cold logic or modern science. In any case, science has no answer for some of the universe's greatest mysteries: We still do not know how the universe came into existence, what were the origin of the gaseous clouds that still float across space forming new stars and planets or, how matter acquires shape and form. So, when some babus and lawyers on the Government's payroll nonchalantly proclaim that Lord Rama and his Vanar Sena never existed, it is bound to outrage public sentiment.

By extension, there may be rational arguments for defending the right of the controversial Danish cartoonist who portrayed the Prophet in unflattering terms. Arguably, how can anybody be denied the right to free expression in the age of democracy? But why then did the same Government urge the Danish Prime Minister to postpone his visit to India citing inflamed passions caused by those tasteless cartoons? Why was The Satanic Verses banned? Why was public exhibition of Jesus Christ Superstar proscribed in Kerala? Why did Arjun Singh hurriedly withdraw an officially sponsored exhibition mounted by the CPI(M)'s front organisation, Sahmat, in Ayodhya in 1990 because one exhibit depicted Ram and Sita as brother and sister? Why was Kishore Kumar's comedy film Badhti ka Naam Dadhi, made in the early 80s, withdrawn from cinemas in view of Sikh anger? Why have the courts issued notices to publicity-hungry artist MF Hussain for depicting Hindu goddesses in the nude, despite the squeals of protest by secular fundamentalists?

The belated withdrawal of ASI's affidavit in the Supreme Court in connection with the petition seeking termination of the multi-billion Sethusamudram Project on the ground that it will irreparably damage the submerged land bridge between India and Sri Lanka falls in this category. There may be no archeological or scientific evidence to prove that the structure widely called Ram Setu was physically built by Ram in his quest to reach Lanka to rescue Sita. But matters of faith cannot be subjected to denigration by resorting to cursory archaeological reading.

The Sonia Gandhi-led regime at the Centre has much to answer for, despite its abrupt somersault following the eruption of public anger. Mr LK Advani is right to ask why the Government treats Hindu sentiment with such disdain while it is ultra-sensitive to the concerns of other communities. This observation underscores a tendency towards selective appeasement of minorities that has been gaining ground in recent years. Even the BJP-led Government was guilty of going overboard on occasion when, for example, it pledged to appoint 2 lakh Urdu teachers in UP on the eve of the 2004 election or blessed the so-called Atal Himayati Rathyatra organised by some Muslim outfits in a van that sported a picture of President Musharraf shaking hands with Mr Vajpayee.

However, the UPA Government has thrown all caution to the winds and systematically promoted policies aimed at deepening communal divisions in the country. On the one hand it has made a series on objectionable policy statements and introduced measures aimed at cultivating minority, especially Muslim, votes. And now, by officially ridiculing people's faith in Lord Ram, it has rubbed salt on the wounded Hindu psyche. Far from rectifying the alleged bias against Muslims in Government jobs, the UPA has roused expectations without either the intention or ability to deliver. By compounding this with an assault on Hindu sensitivities, the Manmohan Singh Government is guilty of brazenly pursuing a communal agenda.

For instance, the Government is fully aware that the Constitution does not provide for religion-based reservations. Yet by projecting the Sachar Commission recommendations as the panacea for Muslims, it is hoodwinking the community. In reality, Justice Sachar has not even proposed quotas for Muslims except to suggest that Dalit converts to that religion be made eligible to the same privileges as Hindu Dalits. But Islam does not acknowledge the existence of caste divisions and, in any case, a mere 4.5 per cent of Muslims belong to that category. So what jobs are we talking about? OBCs among Muslims have already been allotted a nominal share of reservations in keeping with the Mandal Commission's recommendations. So, the Andhra Pradesh Government decided to take a back door route by getting the entire Muslim community declared socially and educationally backward in a bid to hike their quota. Emulating this, the Tamil Nadu Government announced last week that Muslims and Christians would get an enhanced share within the State's already contentious 69 per cent reservations. That quantum is currently under the Supreme Court's scanner as the apex court had earlier ruled against reservations exceeding the 50 per cent barrier.

The point of referring to these issues, including the pernicious recent legislation that exempts minority educational institutions from implementing OBC reservations, is to demonstrate the UPA's brazen double standards. The underlying assumption behind this set of policies is that Hindus do not constitute a political community; that they are bitterly divided on caste and sectarian lines and; hence, they are incapable of responding effectively to repeated assaults on their sensitivities or available educational opportunities. It is this mindset that dictated the Government's affidavit on Ram Setu. Mandarins of the Culture Ministry and lawyers with no understanding of issues of faith went out of their way to denigrate Hindu beliefs. Even NASA did not go to the extent of ridiculing Lord Ram or people's beliefs when it issued a clarification that, judging by the satellite photo, Adam's Bridge did not appear to be a man-made structure.

That would have sufficed by way of the Government's affidavit against the petitioners who extensively quoted Ramcharitmanas to seek scrapping of the Sethusamudram Project. But the affidavit went out of the way to rubbish our sacred texts and deliberately insult Hindu faith. This is what comes out of perverse secularism, which flies in the face of genuine secularism that enjoins the state to be neutral in matters of religion. Only if the babus paused to think about the magnificent Ramlilas annually staged by Muslim artistes throughout Indonesia, the country with the largest number of adherents to the Islamic faith! Only if they recalled Allama Iqbal, the celebrated writer of Saare jahan se achchha who turned a votary of Pakistan, describing Lord Ram as Imam-e-Hind!

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, September 16, 2007