Reports of forced conversions of Muslims girls to Hinduism in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh paint a sorry picture of the state of religious freedom in India. A country that self-avowedly subscribes to the principles of a particular brand of secularism in which the state does not keep out of matters of faith but rather treats all faiths equally has failed to uphold its founding basis if forced conversions of the country’s religious minorities are carried out with impunity. Indeed there is a strong class factor to all of this as well as it is often the poor in the countryside who have to face such treatment; very few would dare to forcefully convert a family member of the rich and powerful. And it is also true that those belonging to underprivileged socioeconomic classes are less open to the idea of interfaith marriages or conversions, and hence in some cases an elopement may be passed by them as a forced conversion. However, even if forced conversions do not make up for the majority of the cases of religious conversions and marriages, they still merit the utmost condemnation and the state as well as the central government of India should be held accountable for it.
Religion is an important marker of identity in South Asia, both at the societal as well as the political level. Deeply ingrained in the psyche of the South Asian people, religion often lends sanction to anachronistic cultural practices as well as act as a major means of mobilisation. Religious sentiments often dominate judgment and perceived religious oppression or injustice can trigger fiery mobs that can fuel the conflagration of inter faith disputes and lead to bloodshed. Part of the reason behind the penchant of South Asian people to at times forsake the principles of tolerance in place of a vengeful brand of religious chauvinism is the history of colonialism particular to the region in which binary categories were created and then reified through the formal instruments of the colonial state. Marking the fields of struggle along religious lines by distributing resources and dispensing patronage, the colonial state laid the foundations of the “us” versus “them” mentality that pervades the psyche of a big part of the South Asian people.
Of course, this is not to say that the bigotry that is witnessed today is only to blame for the British policy of divide and rule. It has been 70 years since the British left South Asia, and the inability of the people of South Asia to transcend these categories points to an apathy on their part to be more inclusive and tolerant. This also not to paint the people of as big a region as South Asia with the same broad brush as of course there have been movements and attempts from within the region to shun bigotry. Right now, all eyes are India to see of it really would uphold the principles of inclusivity and religious freedoms that it so often claims to espouse in front of the international comity of nations. *