Patricia Mukhim: ABVP Activists Vandalise Don Bosco’s Statue in Guwahati
We are losing our freedom inch by inch and we do not even realise it
Ever since the Modi-led NDA government was installed in the
seat of power in May 2014, cultural and moral policemen have been on overdrive.
I wonder if they know that among tribals, cohabitation is no taboo and
consensual sex whether inside a home or hotel is no one’s business but theirs.
It is shocking to read that hotels in Mumbai were raided to catch couples who
choose to have sex there. What is happening to this country? There are so many
criminal activities that go unnoticed, some happening under the very nose of
the police but they have no time for real policing work because their bosses
direct them to become protect people’s morality.
Not long ago came the beef ban. As people whose staple
source of protein is beef, we were shocked at this ban on beef. That was when
people realised that many more shocks were in store for them. Then pornography
sites were banned. Some hack taking a dig at the Modi Government said, the
government actually wanted to ban pork but got the last alphabet of the
spelling wrong. What next is what everyone wants to know.
Now let me come to a more sinister story. The Salesian
congregation, who are followers of Saint John Bosco, (popularly known as Don
Bosco), an educator and friend of the youth, wanted to install a statue of
their founder whose bicentenary year they are celebrating, at Bharalumukh,
Guwahati on August 7. The statue was set up late on August 6 and was to be
unveiled by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi the next day. Early on that day some
student union members of Cotton College Guwahati and the members of the Akhil
Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ wing of the BJP, vandalised
the statue, bringing it down and pushing it to the river. The statue was
damaged and so was the cultural thread of the city.
Many from the city, including parents of students and
invitees who attended the Don Bosco bicentenary function at Don Bosco School,
Panbazar on Saturday evening, spoke with concern at this painful development
which threatens to create a religious divide. Those invited to speak on the
occasion, and they included Power Minister of Assam, Pradyut Bordoloi said, “We
hang our heads in shame at what happened yesterday. Assamese society has always
been tolerant of divergent views and religious practices. Now we are seeing religious
polarisation from close quarters.”
Bosconians upset
Many Bosconians (those who passed out from Don Bosco
institutions) have expressed their anxiety on social media. Never before has
communal politics sullied social relations. The arrest on Saturday of four
people including a BJP woman councillor, Sunita Bhilwaria and her husband, for
questioning, indicates which way things are going. BJP hardliners are spreading
their toxic tentacles in the North Eastern region which is already fragmented
by ethnocentrism and divided along tribal lines. Religious polarisation will
further divide the polity and also create a fear psychosis among the tribes
about whether they are living in a secular society or whether they will now
have to conform to food and other social habits that are alien to them.
Incidentally, Union Power Minister, Piyush Goyal had come to
Guwahati on Saturday, August 8 to inaugurate the Don Bosco bicentenary
educational seminar. He could not have been ignorant of the events of the
previous day which were orchestrated by his party confreres. That this was not
made an issue at the seminar is a measure of the large-heartedness of the
Salesians who have learnt to serve with dignity and grace in the midst of all
kinds of stormy circumstances.
A section of social media activists who are obviously
extreme rightist in their views have been spewing venom about why Don Bosco’s
statue should be put up in the city when other statues of icons like Dr Bhupen
Hazarika or other Assamese saints and heroes are yet to be installed. The
counter question to these BJP acolytes is, ‘but who is preventing them from
putting up those statues?’ Should the Government be spending its waking hours
thinking about statues instead of cleaning up the filth in Guwahati city?
Some with a streak of vengeance even questioned as to what
have been the contributions of Don Bosco, an Italian, to Assamese society and
culture? One even commented that Sonia Gandhi must have ordered CM Tarun Gogoi
to install the saint’s statue, an obvious allusion to Congress politics being
the agenda behind the statue. These ideologues are perhaps ignorant of the vast
contributions made by Don Bosco institutions across Assam and the North East.
One of the most progressive private universities in the region – the Don Bosco
University – is coming up in a 250 acre plot in Assam. Obviously it will serve
the educational needs of the region. But bigots refuse to see the bigger
picture. They are hell bent on accusing Don Bosco institutions of trying to
convert people even though this is not borne out by evidence.
Fundamentalism not a good sign
Don Bosco educational and skills building institutions
(first version of Polytechnics) are spread across 132 countries and serve at
least 15 million people worldwide. Everywhere they are given due respect
including even Communist ruled Tripura where a statue of Don Bosco was set up
recently to commemorate his 200th year. Religious
fundamentalism such as the kind propagated by the BJP and its youth brigade
does not bode well for the region. People have to fight these fascist
tendencies before they lose their right to speak up and speak out. For the
Salesians of Don Bosco tomorrow is just another day of service to the youth of
Assam and this country. They have been magnanimous and said, “Forgive them for
they know not what they do.” Alas things are no longer so innocent in this
country. We are losing our freedom inch by inch and we do not even realise it.
see also
