Is India that is Bharat, truly a land of religion?
At first glance, the innumerable Temples, Mosques, Churches, Gurudwaras dotting the Indian landscape definitely give us this impression that India is truly a great religious country.
A recent survey also confirmed that we have more places of worship than all the schools and hospitals put together. (Please check as per latest surveys).
The year round celebration of religious festivals and millions of pilgrims on a daily basis to confirm the image of a surging religiosity. Added to all this is about a dozen religious TV channels round the clock with tens of millions watching each every day. When it comes to “Gurus” preaching to their devotees, the average cost of decorated Shamiana (canopy) would be around a million rupees daily!
All this and much more, to celebrate the outpouring religious fervour of this land and yet, when it comes to taking stock of the socio-cultural attitude on caste or gender issue, we have to hang our head in shame.
In a country where the religious minded Hindus worship Goddess Lakshmi and Goddess Sarawasti and Goddess Durga and Goddes Annapurna and Muslims venerate Hazrat Fatima while Christians revere Mother Mary and the Sikhs regard Mata Guzari (Mother of Guru Govind Singhji) as holy, millions of unborn girl children are brutally murdered and then thrown down the drain for the simple reason that the unborn child has been found to be (through ultrasound machines) a female and not a male child!
The followers of Guru Nanak who exhorted his disciple’s saying- “So Kyon Manda Akhiye, Jit Janme Rajan” (how can you degrade a woman who gives birth to kings?) would feel ashamed when told that Sikhs top the list of those who practice female foeticide. The Jains who pride in their religion of “Ahimsa Param Dharma” (nonviolence as the hight creed) are not far behind in this despicable deed of selective elimination of girl child.
The vast majority of Hindus who ritually worship Goddess Laskmi & Sarawasti and Durga and so on, never like to stop for a moment to ask themselves this simple question- How come we who worship the stone or clay made idol of our Goddess but when greed or fear of Dowry takes over, we kill the God sent real Lashmi, Sarawasti and Durga in the womb?
Nothing can explain the fact that today India is the country with the largest number of female foeticides in the world than that we are religious in false ritualistic sense only and seldom in true religious sense.
It was this soul searching and self-criticism in the face of this horrendous scourge of female foeticide that some of us (religious reformers and leaders) took upon ourselves the onerous task of spiritual awakening from Gujarat to Punjab, from Tankara to Amritsar, from 1st Nov. to 15 Nov., from the day of Diwali to the birthday of Guru Nanak Dev.
All of us who came from Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Bahai, Kabir Panthi or any other background got together to spearhead a movement of mass awakening urging people to realize the suicidal sin in selectively aborting the girl child.
It was a humble first step. We had no illusion that in one march we will overcome the anti girl child attitude or be able to convince all young men against demanding any dowry etc. But the response we received was overwhelming. More than men and women, it was school children and youth who virtually descended on the streets to welcome and join the marchers. It has strengthened our resolve to go further and deeper on these issues to address all problems covering gender injustice and sacredness of all life.
The epochal march joined in by some 200 eminent socio-religious, cultural activists of Multi religious background and conviction has already triggered a chain positive reaction. In most parts of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi, Haryana Chandigarh and Punjab, it has catalysed a new and healthy debate in our country.
Among other things, this march received a very encouraging response from our Central & State Governments, from UNFPA & UNICEF. This partnership between the State and the civil society became possible by the support from a youthful visionary Union Health Minister Dr. Ambumani Ramdoss and his team of dedicated officers. We look forward to many more of such civil society initiatives in partnership with Governments and UN bodies.
This particular initiative of the Civil- religious society has reconfirmed our belief that social issues cannot be tackled through high profile seminars and corporate cultured NGO’s or through simple beauracratic approach. We have to go to the masses and communicate in their language, in their idioms & through their symbols. The grassroots faith based organizations can articulate the progressive stance of their religion in a more contextualized manner and bring about a change of the mindset.
From 2.5 million missing girls in 1991 to 3.5 million missing girls in 2001, it could be anywhere between 4 to 5 million missing in 2006. The spectre is haunting. The task is very daunting. Let us not waste a minute. Let each one of us speak up for someone so voiceless. Let each one of us stand up for someone so defenseless. Let us commit ourselves to God of compassion and save the unborn girl child, ensure her the right to be born, to equal love, affection and opportunities and last but not the least- equal dignity all her life.