Undermining Religious Freedom: Proffering ‘Integral Humanism’ as Defence

During the past four decades, India has witnessed the rising intimidation and targeting of religious minorities. After the demolition of Babri mosque in 1992, the country witnessed unprecedented violence in Mumbai leading to the loss of nearly one thousand lives. In 1999, the most horrific act of burning alive of Pastor Graham Staines, labelled ‘most ghastly incident from the inventory of black deeds’ by the President of India K.R. Narayanan, took place. The Gujarat carnage in 2002 was orchestrated on the pretext of Godhra train burning, leading to massive polarisation along religious lines and victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in subsequent elections. Later, the massive Kandhamal violence in Odisha on the pretext of Swami Aseemanand’s murder by Maoists in 2008, led to attacks on churches and loss of lives.  

The communal violence in Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh in 2013 and in Delhi in 2019, are a few other such major acts that tormented the country.

This is not all, violence in the name of cow slaughter and ‘love jihad’ added to the fire of anti-minority hatred. The CAA (Citizenship Amendment Act) added to the woes of the Muslim community. The attacks on scattered prayer meetings of Christians on the pretext that these meetings were meant for conversions, has kept up anti-minority hatred and has intensified during the past few decades.

There is a gross violation of the rights of minorities and violation of the ‘Freedom of Religion’ in various forms. Freedom of Religion Acts have been implemented recklessly in various states. These laws as such are a big hurdle for the practice of one’s religion. This suppression of practice of religion, added on with hatred against minorities, has led to the total intimidation of the religious minorities.

The country also witnessed the hateful rhetoric used during the 2024 national elections, the ongoing demolition of Muslim homes and the government’s renewed push to implement the CAA—a law that, especially when coupled with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), risks rendering millions of Muslims stateless and without legal protection.

This image of India being created by the acts of the BJP government and allied Hindutva politics has had an adverse effect on India’s international image and standing. Attempts are on to bypass this image, which reflects India’s falling position on various indices related to freedom and democracy. How does the government and the ruling ideological outfit, Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh or RSS, deal with this abysmal image?

To begin with, at official level, India does not recognise any of the agencies monitoring rankings related to human rights in particular. The government states that this is interference in the ‘internal matters’ of our country. The same government shouts hoarse when atrocities on Hindus take place in neighbouring countries. To raise concerns about these atrocities is absolutely on the dot, but the government has displayed double standards on this.

To add up to the strategy of undermining the deteriorating condition of Indian minorities, now Ram Madhav, a RSS-BJP leader, in an article, has argued that this way of looking at violation of religious freedom is through a Eurocentric lens. In an endorsing way, he presents the report of a US-based think- tank, Changing the Conversation About Religious Freedom: An Integral Human Development Approach”. As per this report, “a crucial component of overall human flourishing and sustainable development has to be based on Integral Humanism”. He comments that religious freedom should not just be treated as relating to human rights. (Indian Express, June 14). This is a clever ploy to undermine the freedom of religion in the country.

As per Madhav, invading Mughal armies persecuted Hindus. He puts the blame of Partition exclusively on the Muslim League. In contrast to Madhav’s understanding, the leader of India’s freedom movement, M.K Gandhi, saw diverse religions rooted in India and thriving with harmony. On similar lines, Jawaharlal Nehru saw our civilisation as a syncretic one. He writes “She (Bharat Mata) was like some ancient palimpsest on which layer upon layer of thought and reverie had been inscribed, and yet no succeeding layer had completely hidden or erased what had been written previously.”  

In the article, Madhav writes about the concept of ‘Integral Humanism’ which was first propounded by Jacques Maritain in 1936, who was a Catholic Christian and has been appreciated by the highest priests of the Church. As per Madhav, his concept of ‘Integral Humanism’ argued for rising above religions to secure not only material but ethical, moral and spiritual well-being of individuals. Articulating this in the context of Catholic Christianity, it might have aimed to oppose those who were trying to opt for non-Catholic sects of Christianity. He also argued for “The freedom which Christian democracy seeks to promote…”

In India, this phrase was presented by BJP leader Deendayal Upadhaya, who also had an RSS background. He was part of a political outfit working for a Hindu Nation. This ideology regards that India was enslaved by Muslim kings and then the British. This political ideology attributes many ills of Hindu society to atrocities of Muslim kings in particular. The fact is that many of the ills regarding caste or varna and gender hierarchy are mentioned in the earlier tomes regarded holy by Hindus. They are also unmindful of the fact that the administration of Muslim kings was full of upper caste Hindus at various levels.

In the four major lectures given by Upadhyay 1965, the ideology of ‘Integral Humanism’ was presented. This ideology argues against the federal structure of India and calls for ‘Dharma Raj’. As per him, Dharma is above Parliament. It does argue for the predetermined role of Individual, i.e. subtly upholding caste-varna system. It stands for status quo in society. Maritain advocated ‘Christian democracy’ while Upadhyay is part of the agenda of ‘Hindu Nation’. And the BJP has adopted ‘Integral Humanism’ as its ruling ideology.

The results of this ‘Integral Humanism’, which claims to be above religions, in practice, adopts the values of Brahminical Hinduism and is taking up issues of temples (demolition of mosques), the holy cow (lynching), ‘love jihad’ and conversions as the core of its agenda.

‘Integral Humanism’ is being put forward to undermine the values of the Indian Constitution, rights of the minorities, low castes and women in the present times. It may be a more sophisticated name for the agenda of Hindu Rashtra, something totally in opposition to the Indian Constitution.  

The writer is a human rights activist, who taught at IIT Bombay. The views are personal.