As the CONgress faces terminal decline, the only "national party" that presents itself as an alternative is the BJP - the party of "Hindutwits," as Ashok V Desai calls them, who have the RSS and Bajrang Dal in tow. A chance conversation brought out the enormous dangers of such rulers - and I decided to write these down right away.
We were discussing "social norms" involved in the institution of marriage, and I made the point that human society is constantly evolving, in ceaseless flux, because certain pioneering individuals opt to alter their lives by dropping some traditional norms and adopting other norms, sometimes modern ones, sometimes adopted from other cultures.
In India, we see this all around us - from the love life of the stars of Bollywood to Gen-Next to our village folk who follow their ancient ways.
Some people don't like this sort of free social evolution.
And they are the "orthodox."
From ancient times to today, many an orthodoxy has been able to use State Power to prevent free social evolution. Whenever this has happened, civilisation has suffered.
In ancient times, religion was constantly evolving. There were various kinds of Jews, various kinds of Christians, and even Islam saw a split - and, under these principal faiths of the "Holy Land," there were traces of even older beliefs, from Mani's "Religion of Light" to Zoroaster's assertion that Evil is also a force ever-present in this world. There were many rulers who let things be, and did not interfere - like Cyrus the Great. Then there was peace and peaceful exchanges among diverse people with completely different sets of "values" - and civilisation trotted along merrily.
At other times, rulers adopted a religion or enforced an "orthodoxy." In all these times, peace gave way to war, massacres, mass migrations and worse.
Any "orthodoxy" is necessarily an interpretation of norms as observed in the recorded past - and it is just a "snapshot" of that past, a close-up of sorts, which does not reveal the other norms that might have existed in that society at that time.
I think it would be a terrible thing if religion and politics were to mix. A dictator who issues commands "in the name of God" is far more terrifying than a dictator who extorts his tax at bayonet-point but leaves god out of it.
Any enforced orthodoxy takes the whole of that society back in time. All natural evolution stops. Do we want that in our country?
On the other hand, quite apart from all these religious norms and their petty theological quibbles, the "secular" Law was also evolving in ancient society. Property had become a "norm" - a secular law - long before "thou shalt not steal" became a commandment. And as for Contract - it is a curious fact that the pagan god Mithras, whom the Romans worshipped, was known as "patron of contracts." A temple to Mithras was found under the Olde City of London; another close to Hadrian's Wall. And yet another in distant Samarkand!
Torts too have evolved. They were the customary law of the Anglo-Saxons. Restitution for damages is old, natural law.
Religion is a good thing, perhaps, but it must have its limits. The reason being that there are too many competing faiths. All should be free - and separate from the State. The primary "political" goal should be the preservation of the peace. The enforcement of any "orthodoxy" is unthinkable.
Further, the essential concerns of religion - like God, the afterlife, the soul, etc. - do not belong to "real life politics," which is about something else: real life, the here and now, life as it is lived on this planet, and particularly in this phenomenally diverse country.
A diverse society like ours, already evolving in many different directions, can only progress peacefully if it maintains a clear break between religion and politics. Religion is personal - and adoption of its rules are voluntary. On the other hand, there are the "secular rules" of Property, Contract and Tort, without which markets cannot function. It is only in a functioning market order that all our diverse people with different "values" can peacefully interact - and our society can progress. And I don't mean only material progress, but also "spiritual" progress, as pioneering individuals adopt alternative norms and lifestyles. Religion must also evolve freely. Only recently, among the Hindus, there have been alternative movements like the Brahmo Samaj and others. In the past, Buddhism and Jainism came out of our society.
The more I read about the past, and the more I read about the present, the more I am sick of religious hatred. And the politics of religion.
The rules and norms of religion may get you into heaven, but the secular rules of a market order will get you civilisation here on earth.
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