By Matters India Reporter
New Delhi: The All India Catholic Union (AICU), the country’s largest movement of lay Christians, has expressed concern at the government’s failure to condemn and contain threats to freedom of expression.
The threat to the life of the artistes and director of the period drama film Padmawati, writer Kancha Iailiah, and the social media threats to activists Kavita Krishnan, Kavita Srivastava and others reflect a speedy breakdown in the rule of law, says a press release the union issued on November 20 at a press conference in Mumbai.
On the same day, Nityanand Rai, president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, threatened to chop off the “finger or hand raised” against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He issued this warning in the presence of Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi and several other ministers at a rally in Patna, the state capital.
Earlier, the Karnataka deployed police outside the house of Deepika Padukone’s parents in Bengaluru after she received a series of threats for portraying the Padmavati, a 13th century queen in an upcoming film. The actor was given a security cover mid November by the Mumbai Police after Karni Sena, a fringe group in Rajasthan, threatened her with physical harm.
The threat came from Surajpal Amu, BJP’s chief media coordinator in Haryana who has offered a reward of 100 million rupees for “beheading” the actor and Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the film director, for “wrongly implying a romantic relationship between Rani Padmini also known as Padmavati and Emperor Alauddin Khilji, the sultan of Delhi.”
AICU SAYS SUCH continuing hate speeches by ruling party leaders and the total impunity they enjoy have triggered the lynching of Muslims and Dalits in the name of the cow in several states. “Religious minorities are being coerced, threatened and targeted by religious and cultural-nationalists,” the statement bemoans.
It further notes two recent incidents in Madhya Pradesh in central India where the police dragged out Christian children from trains and arrested their trip escorts. The union says its view the incidents as evidence of how state police and justice systems target the Christian community. In both these cases, false cases of forcible conversion were made, it adds.
Such incidents do not augur well for the freedom of religion in India, the Catholic lay group asserts. The situation is aggravated by several recent steps taken by the government, including the enforcing of the NEET (national entrance-cum-eligibility test) admission tests which deeply impact the future of minority students seeking admission in professional education institutions. The proposed new National Education Policy continues as a threat with reports of rewriting curricula, and the corporatization of education, AICU says.
The union also criticized the 12 percent tax imposed on wooden crosses and rosaries, the prayer beads used by Catholics as part of their religious practices. “We demand the GST be removed on all religious artifacts,” it demands.
The press statement notes that the Catholic Union has led the demand for the rights of Dalits and Tribals, especially those professing the Christian faith. AICU has filed a writ in the Supreme Court together with others demanding Scheduled Case rights for Dalits professing the Christian Faith. “We hope the courts will take a decision at an early date as this impacts the civic and human rights of a large number of people in the community,” the statement says.
The press conference was attended by AICU national president Lancy D’Cunha, official spokesperson John Dayal, and Dolphy D’Souza, former national vice president.
The AICU will complete 100 years in 2019. The union’s executive body plans to meet in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, in December to finalize centenary celebrations.