The Crucifixion Of Words

Illustration by Sorit

OPINION

The Crucifixion Of Words

How bad language makes it easier to tolerate violence

Neelabh Mishra

| e-mail | one page format | feedback: send - read |

I shudder when I hear the term "national debate". The then prime minister had uttered it around the time poor, tribal Christians were being roundly thrashed and their homes, churches and prayer halls gutted in the Dangs in Gujarat in the winter of 1998. The events had culminated in faraway Orissa with the cold-blooded murder of the Australian missionary Graham Staines in January 1999 by Bajrang Dal activist Dara Singh. An aspiring prime minister from the same party has uttered the same words once again in 2008 in the wake of a blazing trail of violence against Christians in Orissa that has left more than 32 dead (unofficial figure: 50), approximately 15,000 injured, more than 4,000 homes, churches and prayer halls destroyed and thousands of refugees either in government camps or in the ranks of the crores of homeless that a Shining India boasts. The violence has had a concerted spillover in Karnataka where 22 prayer halls or churches were vandalised and sparked spinoffs in Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Uttarakhand.

In the context of such violence by their cadres and supporters, luminaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party have time and again demanded a "national debate" on conversion to their fold by Christians whose number ironically has shrunk in India from more than 2.8 per cent around the time of Independence to less than two-and-a-half per cent now. Christian groups claim that nearly 300 villages in Orissa now stand purged of Christians—they have either fled or been converted to Hinduism by force. So here is your debate on conversion—not through arguments articulated in words but scored by inflicting physical violence. "National debate" has a new meaning: bash the Christians up. Rob, murder and rape them. Along with the violence inflicted on humanity, I also mourn the violence inflicted on language wherein an innocuous word like debate has been contorted to connote a sinister new meaning. Remember George Orwell.

Several such sinister euphemisms have been introduced in our language of political discourse since the late 1980s and early 1990s. One such term is "cultural nationalism", revived in the course of the movement that culminated in the destruction of a historical mosque in Ayodhya that claimed as collateral damage over many years the lives of thousands of citizens of the nation-state. Forget that "culture" or "cultural" ever evoked associations of benign accomplishments of humankind like learning, literature, music, fine arts, spirituality, philosophy and generally a well-cultivated way of life in harmony with itself and its surroundings, including other lives. With the kind of profiling going on, promoted by such images as the kaffiyeh-wrapped accused of the Batla House encounter being paraded by the police, no wonder that Muslims now dread the word terrorist, which always seems to point a finger at them and never at anyone else, even when Muslims get killed, as in the blasts at Modasa and Malegaon on September 29, or earlier at Muslim religious places in Hyderabad, Ajmer and Parbhani, or when Bajrangis get killed or caught in the act as in Kanpur and Nanded. The latest gem in this new political lexicon comes from a quote by a Hindutva ideologue carried by Outlook in its cover story last week. It implies that a rioter, who "cannot be equated with terrorists", may after all be a respectable citizen in this doublespeak.

The ironic terminology is probably more pronounced in non-English Indian languages. To give an example from Hindi, Bajrang Dal's motto is "Seva, Suraksha and Sanskriti". What better seva or service than relieving Christians of their pain of existence and quickly dispatching them to moksha, like righteous Hindus, by cremation, even if it be live and without a pyre! After all, seva became synonymous with destruction long ago, as in kar seva, or voluntary service that demolished the Babri mosque.Suraksha in Bajrang Dal's motto is about attacking Muslims or Christians, since offence is the best form of defence, as the old saying goes. And sanskriti, or culture, is of course about attacking artistic expression in galleries or theatres and expression of young love in secluded corners of parks in the town.

Following his call for a national debate on conversion a few days ago, L.K. Advani, speaking to reporters in Guwahati, condemned the attacks on Christians in Orissa and Karnataka and said, "The law must take its course and culprits brought to justice." The police have no doubt booked scores of Christian 'culprits' under non-bailable sections in Karnataka. Their only crime: organising protests against violent attacks on their prayer halls and churches.

For most of us in India, democracy still holds its old meaning. Wait till some would-be iron man of the future rams his iron into the soul of the nation.