CHRISTMAS- A blessed time to resuscitate our fellowship of grace with God

[dropcap]W[/dropcap]ith the unprecedented drubbing of the so called ‘secular force’ congress, that is, by the BJP in the recently concluded general elections, the talk among the masses has been that of hope for the ‘ache din’ to dawn upon them. The concept of the ‘good days’ as eloquently put forth by our Honorable Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi during his inaugural speech comes across to us as the chef’s delight in any of our favorite restaurants. But it’s time to wake up people, stop wasting your time in brushing your teeth nor indulge yourself no more in Brazilian coffee for our religious identity is at threat in this god forsaken country. Our beloved Christmas, 25th December could soon become the ‘NATIONAL DAY OF GOOD GOVERNANCE’. Yes! That’s exactly what our bosses in the centre are mooting at. The reason? According to them, it is of outmost importance for the nation to mark the birth anniversary of one of the leaders of the ruling party who according to them is the epitome of ‘good governance’. The need for the same is too much that arguably one of the important dates in the Christian calendar be wiped off from the face of it, atleast in HINDUSTAN. Wait! That’s not all, they are also planning to force the students in various government run schools to stay put in their classrooms and listen to their (almost all through the year round absent) teachers lecture to them endlessly about the nitty gritty of good governance besides, instill in them to compete fairly by organizing various academic competitions. Sounds like a fun day for our little ones right?Too much to digest already? How about I remind you that RSS, whose hold of the BJP is no secret, wanted to organize a mass conversion camp in Aligargh by giving a token amount of 5 lacs and 1 lac to Muslim and Christian converts respectively. What has the state of this nation come to? To be fair, the good days appears to be well on its way for the mango people. Direct benefit transfers schemes, though a brainchild of the then UPA Government, for all government related subsidies for the citizens is slowly taking its foothold all over the country. Our vicinity’s looking cleaner and brighter with the government providing for some incentives through its flagship Swaach Bharat campaign. Though the industrial output suddenly declined for the month of November, the economy of the country is on a steady rise and is projected to grow at 6.4% in 2015 against 5% growth rate for this year. The international outlook of brand India has touched a new high thanks to the trailblazing effect of our Prime Minister. Sincere efforts is been made by the current government to ensure performance of the government officials and transparency in their dealings in all level of governance. The positive outlook of the government towards the welfare of its people indeed is heartwarming. But should a nation be all about economic growth and welfare schemes without any regards for the religious sentiments of its citizens? This attempt to mark 25th December as ‘Good governance day’ is a direct attempt of the government to annihilate the 2000 years old Christians practice of celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ at least in our country. Not only that, the is government directly questioning the very foundation of the Christian faith and therefore its sanctity by telling the Christians that in this country, your savior Jesus Christ is nothing compared to our Guru for good governance. Though a large section of our nation’s population continues to hold our former Prime Minister Shri. Atal Bihari Vajpayee as a great statesman and an able administrator, his birthday can never be of more importance to any modern day government in comparison with that of Christmas. Attempts like these are no longer a mere mark of difference in ideologies but a willful expression of intolerance this government towards other religious groups. It was expected that with the coming of BJP to power in the centre, Hinduism would thrive in the country. But nobody thought that this government could stoop to such a low. The utter disrespect for the sentiments of the citizens belonging to the religious minorities by this BJP led government is not just unfortunate but derogates the principle of Secularism which forms the basic structure of our constitution. It threatens the very foundation of our democracy and makes an open mockery of our glorious constitution. And any government in a modern democratic state whose functions does not conform with the well laid down law of the land has no moral right to continue to ruling the people. Having pointed that out, what concerns many of us more is the continued camaridie between the NPF and the BJP in Nagaland. What rational reason could be behind it? Nagaland being a Christian state, the NPF led government should make every possible effort to keep that identity intact and the first step towards doing this would be to dump BJP as one of its allies because the expressed intolerance of the BJP towards Christianity threatens to create chaos within the state and beyond. Cutting across all economic and other possible gains that partnering with BJP could bring in to the state, it defies all principles of fairness and justice for the NPF to continue its partnership with the BJP party as it is the religious identity of its people which is at an immediate threat. The NDA government is leaving no stones unturned to ensure that the process of hindunization of India is completed at the earliest. Though some of their moves does not appear very subtle, the underlined context is not erased. And if the country continues to just sit and watch without reacting strongly against such well ‘disguised’ moves, secularism will see its death sooner than later in our country and India will soon have a its national scripture in the Bhadvag Gita too (Another proposal of this government). It’s about time we say, Enough is enough! And together join forces to fight this divisive force. Siipuni Ng National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata