Washington, DC – I have been exchanging ideas on plurality with friends and family. Sometimes a trigger point is needed and that was the statement I read earlier this week that India would be a Hindu nation by 2020. I do not know what to make of it.
Even though India is predominantly a Hindu nation, it is defined by its constitution and more importantly, by its secular ethos. Both by constitution and by practice, historically as well as in the present, the majority has practiced diversity in all forms.
Various individuals, organizations, groups and subgroups within organizations, have held narrow positions. And that I believe applies to RSS as well by association. I attended RSS ‘Shakhas’ for good part of my youth, some 40 years or so ago. What was talked about was that one should be proud of his/her being a Hindu. This, in no shape or form implies disrespecting other religions. In fact, that is what we were taught in school as well.
As I learn more, I find that that is our history. For example, the second mosque, after the first one in Medina, was established in Kerala, India (Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.)
Another example is a belief of some that Jesus Christ may have gone to Kashmir, India, and died there. (The Rozabal Shrine of Srinagar, 2010). One can debate whether it was Jesus or someone else who went there and preached for several years, died and is buried in the shrine. However, the fact remains that the Indian society was open to other beliefs and made them comfortable to come, stay and preach. Zoroastrians, who are identified as Parsees in India, fled Iran to escape persecutions and conversion to Islam, are settled in Gujarat and Sindh areas.
This diversity – as practiced by the majority of the population – is probably the reason that India is so successful in spite of limited resources. We should celebrate and promote this diversity and persuade other countries to practice the same.
United States, for example, is making efforts through affirmative action and visa lotteries to maintain and increase its diversity. Post-independence India has done this through reservations.
Again, one can debate the merits and demerits of both affirmative action and reservations. For example, some believe that reservation in higher education on the basis of religion is leading to conversions to minority religions. Of course, the society would have to look at incentives created by a policy and modify the policy as needed to meet expected outcome.
Again, outcome of the policy is not the case in point here. Promoting diversity is. A country or a group needs to promote diversity – be it of religious beliefs or of opinions in professional settings – and that is for its own good.
Dr. Narendra K. Rustagi
Dr. Narendra K. Rustagi is Professor and Director, Center for Global Business Studies in the School of Business at Howard University, Washington, DC. He is also Founder and Executive Director of International Educators Group, www.intledgroup.org, an association dedicated to help close the gap in the quality of higher education, recognizing the role of various factors including information technology and mentoring. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Innovative Education Strategies and managing editor of the Washington Business Research Journal.