Book Review: Mani Shankar Aiyar's "Cofessions of a Secular Fundamentalist"

I have just finished readinhg the book , “ CONFESSIONS OF A SECULAR FUNDAMENTALIST” by Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyar ( Peguin Books). The following is intended as an appreciation of the book from my point of view as a member of the minority Christian community in India. There are reasons why i think all Indians both resident and non-resident must read it. The book is well written with a refreshing balance on opinions. For me what is really heart warming are his ability to give credit to members of minority religions, wherever they have contributed to Indian development in all fields, including education, literature and general enlightenment, among others.

As a Syrian Christian of Keralam, i feel proud and happy when Mr Aiyar ( a member of the ‘majority’ community ) writes the truth about the contributions to education and other social aspects by Chritians as a whole and Syrian Christians of Keralam in particular. He has said so many positive and true things about Muslims, Sikhs,Parsis, Jews and others too.

Some of his observations are worth reading and remembering:

“From partition and independence in 1947 to the first general election in 1952 the nature of our nationhood was the dominant political issue but with Jawarlal Nehru vanquishing the soft-Hindu school within the Congressby 1951 and going on to overwhelmingly win the general election in 1952 on a hard secular platform, the secular basis of our nationhood remained unchallenged for the next 34 years....”

On the topic of Coversions and the Constitution, his arguments are such that adherents of all religions must read and try understand our constitution sincerely: “ The constitution grants every citizen the fundamental right to propagate one’s faith. It does not confer the right to convert. However it also gives every citizen to be converted “.

To some of the the zealots in India he says: “ The Ramakrishna Mission is probably the most widespread, the most influential, and most effective of the missions operating in the country – certainly more widespread and more effective than the evangelical mission of Graham Stains who was brutally murdered by the zealots of the saffron brigade”.

When i was in college in Gauhati, Assam, i had both Hindu and Muslim friends. While i could not see or find any difference in either group, there were students who said things like: “ Pradip is a Bengali but Hamid is a Muslim. The surprising thing for me was the fact that both were from Calcutta, West Bengal, and both were nice gentlemen. I, as a Malayalee from central Travencore ( central Keralam) never could appreciate, such an attitude because in my green Keralam all were Keraleeans whatever his/her religious faith.

Whenever i have a chat with some of my Hindu friends they have a standard comment about population growth, and that is: “ Muslim population is growing at lightening speed and their population will overtake that of all others shortly” . Mr. Mani Shankar Aiyer’s statisical analysis clears the air so effectively thus : “ The 1991 census showed that Muslim population of India grew from 61 million to 75 million between 1971 & 1981.This amounts to 23 % over a decade giving an annual rate of increase of 2.2%. The Hindus’ number rose from 453 million to 549 million over the same decade giving an annual rate of over 2%”.

So, Mr Aiyer states : “ Muslim population is growing at just about the same rate as Hindu population. Will then the sons of Babur overtake the sons of Ram ?“

In the same manner the writer discusses Ayodhya, Hindutwa, and related topics and makes the reader conclude that partition’s responsibility was equally that of Hindus as was of Muslims’. I liked this part very much indeed.

As member of a minority religion in India, i.e. Christian ( that too a Syrian Christian with a history in India beginning with AD 52, a time when Islam was not yet born and an era when the Europeans were pagans or worse) , I find Mr Aiyer’s observations redeeming. I remember, as a young Area Sales Manager of a Multi National Company in Gorakhpur, a panwaala could not place Keralam as a state and advised me to call myself a “Madrassi”; and then asked me what ‘Jaath’ i belonged to. When i answered Christian, he shook his head side to side and quickly gave me the meedha paan and got busy with other things in a hurry. Poor bloke hadn’t heard of Keralam and how will he understand Christianity, which he associates with poor and hungry people who got converted after the arrival of Portugese, and British missionaries for the sake roti kapda and freedom from harrassment by their own upper caste brotherhood .

The early Christian origin in South India is reflected if one reads matrimonial columns in any English daily of the South where in brides and grooms from the Syro Christian Denominations announce that they belong to “ancient christian family”. Indeed that is true about South Indian Christians as they were Christians before Europe ever heard of Christianity. Surely the Europeans took up the religion and spread it far and wide with the help of their colonial clout. But that is a later story.

The author’s further analysis of ‘secularism and Indian religious minorities’ thows much light on points that are not widely known or discussed, much less understood.

Regarding Muslims in India Mr. Aiyar submits that: “ the root cause of Muslim backwardness in India is Pakistan. The partition in’47 robbed the Muslims of India of leadership – not political leadership but leadership at the grassroots. At local community level, schools and Universities,villages and in bazaars. The Muslim middle class of pre-partition India virtually vanished, as the ‘Muhajir’ took off for a new home ( Pakistan). True ,the fate the ‘muhajir’ met in their Dar-ul-Islam ( house of Islam) is infinitely worse than they left behind in the Dar-ulHarb ( house of war)”. This fact was driven home to me by a Tamil friend of mine who migrated in ’47 and happened to be my colleague in Dubai during the 1987 to 2004 period. He said to me : “ Laddoo milega sochkey gaya tha leikin kuch nahi mila” !

About Christians in India the writer narrates many interesting but less known facts. He writes : “ What has rendered complex contemporary India’s relationship with its Christian community is 2000 year long association with christianity through the Syrian Christian Church of Kerala and 500 years of symbiotic interaction with Jesuits.

Mr. Aiyar also explains the role played by Sikhs, Parsis, Jews etc in making India a true mosaic. He writes: “ Without its mosaic of minorities and majorities, India would not be the India we know. About Jews the author gives a very cute little piece of history : “In India the local Rajas of Malabar Coast ( that is north west coast of Keralam) ceded them territory to establish an independent enclave , free of all outside ineterference so that the only Jewish state in recorded history from the kingdom of David to the state of Israel was established in India”.

I will conclude this note with what the book says about the difference between India and the western civilization: “ It is the essence of Eastern civilization – specifically of Indian civilization – to synthesize and harmonize. It is the essence of western civilization to slice and divide. The western mind finds only one solution to problems of coflict : separate and compartmentalise ( dressed up as self determination). The western mind finds only one answer to ethnicity : domination of the minority by the majority ( dressed up as Democracy). The western mind finds only one response to diversity: elimination ( Hitler’s final solution), or unity through uniformity ( known in America as the melting pot, the dissolution of all diversity in to a single identity, the American mould). What the west finds totally incapable of comprehending, is unity in diversity”.

A book well worth reading.