In different ways, Burma, Taslima Nasreen and now Tibet and the Dalai Lama. The apathy of the government of India and all the major Indian political parties to these crises has been most unnerving. Burma and Tibet are not just political crises. Both movements are led by individuals who represent the possibility of moral politics in our times. Aung San Su Kyi and the Dalai Lama represent the power of non-violence. They represent the increasing frayed hope that self-suffering can be transformative. They represent the struggle of soul force against brute force. And not surprisingly both draw sustenance from Buddhism. Buddhism, in our times, as in the times of Babasaheb Ambedkar, and even earlier, represented the possibility of a religion that not only ennobles the soul, but also paves the way for transformative social and political action.

We live in times when religious politics is viewed with suspicion. It is credited with creating and fostering intolerance within and without. It is a source of violence and bigotry. It is indicative of closures rather than an invitation to a dialogue. This kind of religious politics invites responses that are equally intolerant, both from the nation-states and other religious groups. It seeks to meet one kind of fundamentalism with a similar kind of bigotry.

In a world which has come to judge religious interventions in politics and civil society as something inherently undesirable, Burma and Tibet provide us with a different opportunity. Both these movements are led by monks and monasteries. The haunting images of monks in their saffron robes, walking out of their age-old monasteries, marching in prayerful silence in defiance of the military dictators of Burma are still fresh in our minds. These monks were performing not only a political duty, they were fulfilling a religious duty. They were asserting that a life of religion is not that of ascetic contemplation and withdrawal only. The ascetic duty demands that they fight for truth, not only in abstract theological debates, but in life, in the streets and by-lanes of cities. The assertion of truth requires them to make sacrifice.

... contd.