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“We did
not convert because we are poor. If I am poor but
accepted by my community, there is no [social] terror in
that poverty…. We did not convert for money. We
converted because of the society that saw us as lesser,
not worthy [of respect]. We were 'lower caste',
'untouchable', 'lowly'. Now we are Christian. Our God
wants us. We can walk into his temple. We are worthy.
You understand?" [Spoken by a Dalit convert in Orissa.
Quoted in Violent Gods by Angana P. Chatterji, Three
Essays Collective, Gurgaon, 2009] The driving force
behind religious conversions is, more often than not, a
desire to live a "worthy" life, to have an identity that
one can be proud of. The caste system being practised
even today in Hinduism, despite all governmental efforts
to eradicate it, is a major cause of religious
conversions in India. Poverty and attendant exploitation
is also another cause. But it appears that poverty and
exploitation are intertwined with the caste system.
The caste system in India was seen by Dr Ambedkar,
principal author of India's Constitution, as the
country's greatest evil since it treated millions of
people as subhuman by the simple fact of their birth.
The man who tried his best to replace the discriminatory
caste system with an egalitarian society, the Buddha,
ended up as yet another god among the millions of
deities in India. His teachings were suppressed by the
Brahmins who feared that their stranglehold on society
would be undermined. Orissa is a state in India which
witnessed much terrible violence in the name of religion
and religious conversions. The violence still continues.
The Sangh Parivar organisations are opposed to the
alleged mass conversions into Christianity of Oriya
adivasis (tribal people) and others belonging to the
lower castes. Many acts of outrageous violence have been
perpetrated on the Christians and thousands of them are
displaced from their hometowns. The Hindutva
organisations allege that Chr istian missionaries allure
the poor people with money and other enticements. How
much water does the allegation hold?
Angana P. Chatterji, from whose book the introductory
quote has been taken, has done a commendable job
researching into the violence in Orissa. According to
her, the adivasis and other lower caste people of Orissa
seldom considered themselves Hindus. In her words, "The
Paika Bidroha of 1817-1825, the Kol insurrection of
1831-1832, the Kanika agitation of 1921-1922, the Praja
Mandal (peasant) Movement of the 1930s and 1940s speak
powerfully of Adivasi and subaltern refusal to submit to
cultural colonialism and Brahminical imposition" (199).
Even in the 1990s there were conflicts between the
adivasis and the exponents of Hindutva including
Lakshmanananda Saraswati (who claimed to be working for
the welfare of the adivasis and the lower caste people
of Orissa).
For example, the RSS and Lakshmanananda Saraswati
opposed the adivasis when they fought for indigenous
child rights (359). These Hindutva leaders did not want
the adivasis to be organised. They opposed the adivasi
struggle for Kuidina (a state for themselves). They
tried to suppress the Kandhamal Nari Jagaran Samiti and
the Kuidina Ekta Samiti. "They (the RSS and
Lakshmanananda Saraswati) are dangerous people,"
Chatterji quote some Kui people. "They want to kill our
people like animals. They do not understand religious
differences. They do not understand our connection to
our land. We are neither Christians nor Hindus. We are
Adivasi. We worship the Earth. There are Christian
Kui's. The Mission [church] never forced us to convert.
Not in Kandhamal, before or after 1947…” (359)
Chatterji exposes the myth that the adivasis considered
or were eager to consider themselves Hindus. In May
2006, at a convention attended by about
50,000 adivasis, the Bisu Sendra Tribal Council, which
serves the tribal communities in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand
and Orissa, determined to ban Hindu customs and rituals,
representations and priests from Adivasi spiritual and
religious ceremonies (96). Not different is the case
with the lower caste people. Caste oppression has been a
bone of contention for long in Orissa as in other parts
of India. In Orissa, says Chatterji, "Dalit students and
teachers have been denied employment and entry into
schools and community events, and Dalit community
members have been assaulted for participating in Hindu
religious ceremonies" (69). Chatterji lists a number of
incidents to show the disaffection between the people
belonging to the higher and lower castes. Such incidents
led to the conversion into Buddhism of about 3000 Dalits
in Dec 2006. Poverty also plays its role in this complex
issue.
Orissa is one of the most backward states in India. In
the words of Ramachandra Guha, "In 1999 Orissa overtook
- if that is the word - Bihar as India's poorest state"
[India After Gandhi, Picador India, 2007, p. 707]. The
adivasis and the lower caste people were exploited
economically in the attempts to set up various
industries. The Utkal Alumina, which brought together
Canadian and Norwegian firms with the Aditya Birla
Group, led to the displacement of many adivasis from
their land. 3000 acres of land cultivated by the
adivasis was taken over by the Biju Janata Dal
government and given to the industrialists. The same
government also acquired land in Kalinganagar at much
less than the market rate and handed it over to Tata
Steel to build a factory processing iron ore for the
Chinese market.
Apart from the capitalist industrialists are other
exploiters such as the money-lenders who stand to
benefit much by keeping the adivasis and the low caste
people poor. All these exploitations have made Orissa a
hotbed of Maoists. Christian missionaries also creep in
with the intention of helping the poor and the
downtrodden. The solution seems to lie in two factors:
1. Put an end to the discriminatory caste system. This
would engender a sense of respectability among the
adivasis and the lower castes. Then there would be no
need for religious conversion as a means of attaining
respectability. 2. Give economic independence to the
adivasis and the lower castes. This would put an end to
the Maoist violence as well as the tendency to convert
for financial benefits. (May 28, 2009, Countercurrents)
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