The communal atrocity in Kandhamal is really a clash between conversions, more real and pernicious than Samuel Huntington’s “clash of civilisations”. The agenda of the Sangh Parivar is to convert India into a theocratic State; a tolerant, non-violent, secular society into a homogenised, militant and intolerant society. While certain individuals and segments among Christians and Muslims try to convert a few to their faith, the storm troopers of the Sangh Parivar seek to convert the whole of India by force. Their penchant for “re-conversion” is stark proof. We have endorsed tacitly the prejudiced assumption that all conversions are unlawful; whereas “re-conversions” are lawful and laudable.

The “clash of conversions” could have unforeseen and perilous consequences. Addressing the National Integration Council, the Prime Minister lamented that violence is increasing in many parts of the country and that the spirit of tolerance is waning. This is true. But what the PM needs to take into account is the fact that this is happening for two reasons. First, unless the rule of law is effectively upheld we grant, by default, free play to the agents of violence. Second — an unprecedented taste for, and faith in, violence is emerging in our midst. When the rule of law is kept in suspended animation and the dogs of war are let loose, the public at large — especially the youth — can come to only one conclusion: nothing pays like violence and only violence pays.

Conjuring up a “clash of conversions” may provide electoral gains to some. But the country is sure to be the loser in this gory gamble for power. Writ large over the on-going atrocities is the question: are statesmen among politicians becoming an extinct species? Those of us who have abiding faith in the spirit of India are obliged, even against sinister evidence, to believe that sanity will prevail . That after the present surfacing of poison, the elixir of life will emerge. But that still leaves us with the all-important question: who will drink this emerging poison, in the meanwhile? As the logic of the myth has it, elixir can come only thereafter.

... contd.