I am in New York at the moment, and so is RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat.
Mr Bhagwat stood before an American audience and spoke beautifully about unity through diversity. He declared that different religions may follow different paths, but humanity remains one. He said diversity must be accepted, respected and preserved. He even said that while protecting our own identity, we must protect the identity of others.
For a moment, I wondered whether I had entered the wrong hall.
Was this really New York, or had I wandered into an India that many of us remember and desperately want back?
I looked around carefully. Perhaps Mr Bhagwat had brought this beautiful version of India in his luggage. Perhaps it had cleared American immigration because unity, unlike some Indians, is still welcome in the United States.
His words were magnificent.
But were they meant only for export?
Years ago, in an interview with America’s largest Christian magazine, I had explained that Hinduism went beyond mere tolerance. Tolerance means, “I disagree with you, but I shall somehow put up with you.”
Acceptance means, “You have your path to God, and I have mine. Let us walk together as friends.”
That was the India I knew. I sent both my children to non-Christian schools, so that they would grow up with others of different faiths, and today their best friends are non-Christians, though they both are deep believers.
Ninety percent of my closest friends are not Christians. We have never needed policemen to guard our friendships. Nobody has inspected our conversations for conversion. Nobody has demanded that I surrender Jesus before entering their homes, nor have I demanded that they abandon their faith before entering mine.
We ate together, laughed together, argued together and stood by one another.
Then this group of politicians discovered that friendship does not produce enough votes.
Division does.
Suddenly, for them, religion became an election agent. Faith was issued a party membership card. God was placed on campaign duty, and hatred was appointed chief strategist.
Listening to Mr Bhagwat in New York, I realised something important. Hinduism is not the problem at all. The real problem is a political religion manufactured in secret laboratories, where devotion is mixed with fear and faith with electoral arithmetic.
Mr Bhagwat also said that politics has become a game of self interest.
Wonderful!
But please say it again in India, sir. Say it loudly where minorities are frightened, where worship is viewed suspiciously, and where political leaders with expanded chests manufacture enemies for applause.
I shall soon return from New York.
Please return too, Mr Bhagwat.
And when you do, gather those who divide India in the name of religion and repeat your New York sermon.
Because unity sounds splendid at Madison Square Garden.
But India desperately needs to hear it at home…!
