A group of retired bureaucrats has expressed disquiet at growing levels of religious intolerance in India. The largely non-political group of top former administrators signed an open letter laying out point by point what it sees as classic cases of religious intolerance. The trends pointed out range from gau rakshaks running riot and lynching people, anti-Romeo squads harassing couples, banning of slaughterhouses affecting the livelihoods of many people, mostly from the minorities, the harassment of NGOs and interference in student affairs. A pattern of wilful majoritarianism was established by the arguments, including muzzling of media criticism of the people in power. The growth of hypernationalism is also a major source of worry, as it’s being made clear to dissenters that authority should not be questioned.
The new rules banning the sale of cattle for slaughter, with their agenda not very well hidden, added a whole new dimension to the intolerance issue. The protests had spread so far across India that voices are now being heard from power centres that the government doesn’t want to alter the food habits of people or put businesses in any kind of difficulty. As the trend of tolerance levels being lowered all the time is noticeable, the misgivings of a few bureaucrats can’t be thought to be misplaced. The foundation of the thinking behind the trend is religious ideology. Since that is unlikely to change given the forces driving those now in power, it’s easy to say the problem isn’t going away anytime soon. The question is: who should take corrective action, and how.
