The Prime Minister seems to imagine that the answer to this problem of law and order and the violation of constitutional rights is to organise a seminar! There has been a huge increase in the attacks on Christians ever since Congress demitted office at the Centre ... More significant even than the number and character of these incidents has been their concentration in states run by the BJP ... In short, the problem ... has arisen not because there has been any sudden rise in conversions or because the activities of foreign missionaries have suddenly become alarming, but because the forces of Hindutva have decided to try to make political capital out -of targeting a minority.
... The right to propagate a religion ... It is not a right given to a missionary to convert; it is a right given to the Indian citizen to change his religion if he wishes to do so. The missionary preaches; it is the individual who converts ...
... If the state has any evidence of forcible conversion, then the state has a legal obligation to undo such conversion through the courts ... What no one has the right to do is to terrorise and assault ... anyone ... to forcibly keep (him) within the religion to which (he) born. That is precisely what the Sangh Parivar and its associate organisations are doing ... (Source: The Indian Express, February 9, 1999)
Farooq Abdullah On the RSS and Unity of All Religions
India has assimilated peoples, has assimilated cultures and whateve message was spread, be it that of Gautam, or of Krishna or of Rama, was the message of unity.
... I repeatediy plead with Muslims to understand and recognise the significance of Rama. You will know Allah when you cognise Rama. I tell also the Hindus the day you will see Rama with my eyes you will be possessed of Rama and as long as you do not see Rama with my eyes you cannot become a devotee of Rama. Religion leads us on the correct path, not to division ... I have come to the conclusion that religion and devotion to Ishwara helps us survive ... I have seen many places where religion is not seen as identity and no base for difference. Differences have been created by human beings.
Once I went to Nepal. There is the temple of Pashupatinath ... When we arrived at the gate of temple we noticed that "ONLY HINDUS ALLOWED" was written there ... No sooner had I entered a man stopped me and asked in English "How are you going in?" I replied "I am going in. I am Brahmin from Kashmir ... When I stoop up before the Bhagawan I saw many animals and much muck ... I thought, "My Creator! What a wonder that I cannot come in your presence but animals can." A human being cannot because religion debars him. Tears welled in my eyes. We, human beings have created these differences.
I remember what Atalji had said in 1977 ... He said, "You cannot imagine that a Jan Sangh man may go to Pakistan" ... When I listened to (Atalji's) thoughts I felt that we had misunderstandings. Misunderstandings which we had created for the sake of power. We do not recognize the man. We think that whosoever belongs to the RSS is our enemy. They are not enemies. They have an ideology. They are not against Muslims or Christians. We are being misled. We have been fed this line - "beware! If you face one clad in Khaki shorts, he will finish you off" ... Our religious leaders have created these misunderstandings in order to perpetuate their authority. Similarly, politicians also frighten us. They tell the Muslims one thing and the Hindus something else ...
But inspite of everything I have hopes ... We will advance towards those heights where nobody shall be able to subdue us. The main thing is that we should make an effort to know each other. Once we know and understand the hearts and minds of each other then, I believe, religion will not create barriers ... (Source: The Politics India, February 1999)
