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I AGREE whole-heartedly with the views expressed in the editorial “Looking beyond conversion” (Jan 12). The cardinal sin in our polity is neither conversion nor bigotry, but poverty. The RSS may have had a justifiable agenda once when it set out to build a sense of discipline and self-worth in the Hindu community, riddled as it then was with many divisions and unprepared to tackle the violence directed against it at the instigation of the colonialists, keen on subduing the nationalist movement. However, today the Hindutva forces betray a poor analysis of the total situation when they target conversions to Christianity or the mosques at Ayodhya and Mathura as the real problem for Hinduism.

The editorial has rightly pointed out poverty as the root cause of today’s religious violence. Hinduism has also failed to effectively deal with caste divisions and its resultant inequalities — though, in fairness, it must be conceded that all communities have enough divisions and injustices of their own, which need to be acknowledged and eradicated.

The upsurge of religious fundamentalism in recent years has been traced by some analysts to rampant consumerism, unleashed by globalisation and liberalisation; cultural alienation is a short step behind consumerism. One easy, knee-jerk reaction to this erosion of cherished values is to assert aggressively the traditional moral norms and religious identities. This is easily confused with undue alarm at the loss of adherents to another group.

The propagators of Hindutva should realise, first, that despite the noise about conversions to Christianity, the proportion of Christians in the population has steadily decreased over the last 20 years. Secondly, these organisations have adequate resources to take up a wholesome and constructive campaign to discover an authentic contemporary expression of our traditional simplicity of life-style and of our culture. The ethos of Hinduism will be better served by presenting a creative re-incarnation of the jnana and bhakti marg through an enlightened karma-yoga than by targeting for physical assault converts to other religions, their preachers and their places of worship.

Christians and Muslims also need to realise that a narrow insistence on their right to propagate their religion is not the best or most relevant expression of their faith at this historical juncture. All communities can draw a lesson from the Sikhs: although the Panth was committed precisely to militantly defend religion against violent assault, the community has maintained a healthy openness to all religions with a vigorous practice of its own devotional path.

Injustice to Uttarakhand

This refers to the news-item “Clear off LPG list, companies told” (Jan 24). The decision of the Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr V.K. Ramamurthy, to clear the LPG waiting list in the hill areas by March-end this year is good and will go a long way in protecting the fast depleting forest cover and the precarious ecological balance.

According to the ministry’s press note, all the North-Eastern states, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and all the Union Territories have been included in the directive. But there is a glaring omission of Uttarakhand, the second largest hill region after J&K in terms of population. The only fault of the people of this region seems to be their association with UP.

Uttarakhand, not an independent hill state, has been deprived of special treatment a number of times since Independence which all hill states, being special category areas, receive. This area started receiving special central assistance only after the Fourth Plan whereas the other hill states had been receiving it since the beginning of planning. And the mockery is that the per capita special assistance is much less in comparison to that given to the other hill areas. Besides this, in the 1993-94 budget, Dr Manmohan Singh, then Finance Minister, announced a “Tax Holiday Scheme” for the hill states under which concessions were given to set up industrial units in these areas, but the scheme was not extended to Uttarakhand.

The overall impact of the short-sighted policies framed by different governments towards this region is there to see. The economy of the region is a shambles. There is a gradual decline in employment opportunities in the organised sector. The latest directive of the Petroleum Ministry seems to add one more grievance of discrimination against the people of this region. It was the gradual accumulation of such grievances that gave a fillip to the movement for a separate state of Uttarakhand.

PUSHPENDER SINGH GUSAIN
Chandigarh

Col Pritam Bhullar (The Tribune, Dec 27) has highlighted a long battle waged by Col U.S. Chauhan, President, Ex-Servicemen’s League, Gwalior. Ultimately he succeeded in getting pension for Barber Chokhe Lal sanctioned after 47 years of his retrenchment in 1951 from 3 Gwalior Inf. This is a rare and shining example of determinedly pursuing a case.

I salute Colonel Chauhan from the bottom of my heart. He has not only earned the gratitude of lakhs of ex-soldiers, but has also rekindled their faith in the Ex-Servicemen’s League. It will boost the morale of the serving soldiers as well. This brings to mind the memory of one of the greatest Indian soldiers, the late Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa, who had mooted the formation of ex-servicemen’s organisation. He had repeatedly emphasised one theme, “If the morale of the defence forces is to be maintained do not ignore the morale of the pensioners”.

This opportunity proved handy to Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, a junior officer during Cariappa’s time. He took full advantage of this. He demanded that the Prime Minister should give a firm commitment towards the welfare of the soldiers. The three service chiefs then got the approval of the government to extend the benefits of pay-cum-pension to war widows, as also insurance and enhanced gratuity, and medical disability benefits in terms of increased pension to them (the Bangladesh war is history now). A long list of benefits were promised to those then serving in the forces, but nothing to those already retired on paltry pensions. They were left to their fate to remain impoverished and at a disadvantage. They have no political lobby, and their ethos of Army service and discipline stand in their way to resort to any agitational programme.

Field Marshal Cariappa always fought with the government with missionary zeal for improving the lot of ex-servicemen. Nowadays JCOs and ORs often feel neglected and are considered outcastes. Though Army service is now considered unattractive, this apathy is also one of the major reasons for the present-day youth to shun Army jobs. The officers have mostly forgotten the following motto and pledge (or words to this effect) inscribed at the IMA, Dehradun.

There are very few officers like Col U.S. Chauhan these days who go all out to help ex-soldiers and their widows in distress.

I want to share my views on the editorial “Burning at the stake” (Jan 25). You had rightly emphasised that brutal and barbaric murder of the Christian missionary and his two sons shattered the democratic image of India.

We claim that ours is a secular country. But the anti-Sikh riots of 1984, the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992 and now the series of attacks on Christians put a question mark on our commitment.

In India, we have Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and other religions. Robert Burton says, “One religion is as true as another.”

Every religion preaches tolerance, peace and love. Then why is this hatred among the followers of different religions? Here I want to recall the words of a great thinker: “If men could be so wicked with religion, what would they be without religion?”

	M A I L B A G	Monday, February 1, 1999
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