It’s a matter of how minorities feel: Nariman

In fact, for the last three months, the news reports trickling out of Gujarat have deeply perturbed him. When Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel visited him in Delhi three months ago to discuss the Narmada Dam case, the questions that Nariman put to him had nothing to do with the case, but about the attacks on minorities in the State.

Recalls Nariman, “I told him that I was concerned about this issue. He dismissed the reports as mere canards and said that he would look into them. But nothing happened. After I withdrew from the case, they sent me a long letter explaining their position. But I am not interested in adjudicating where one party is right and the other wrong. My stand is simple: if minorities feel insecure, it is the duty of the Government to make them secure. It’s a matter of how they feel, not how the Government says they should feel.”

It’s also not just a matter of morality and principles, it makes bad politics, he argues. “Every democratic nation must be seen to treat its minorities well. That’s what civilised governance is all about.”

Much of Nariman’s anguish over the Gujarat developments have to do with his perception of India. The greatest aspect of this nation, to his mind, is that although Indians worship so many different Gods, speak in so many languages, think in so many different ways; they are still one people.

“History tells us of how this country was formed by so many different types of people–each distinctively Indian. This has been the case for centuries,” says Nariman, pointing out that at one stage, this country was predominantly Buddhist, until Adi Shankaracharya toured the whole of India, argued with Buddhist theologians and spread Hinduism.

“This has been our history. No one did it out of mass hysteria, it was persuasion. I like the term `persuasion’–one is persuaded by a certain faith. There is no room for arrogance in this approach.”

Nariman, a Parsi by birth, has only admiration for Hinduism as a creed. “It’s a fine religion. Please, by all means, go and make people good Hindus. But instead of convincing people about the superiority of Hinduism, these people attack Christians. This is madness. What are they trying to do? A majority is always able to overpower a minority, but they don’t emerge strengthened in any way. Only dictatorships treat people in this manner,” he says.

Much as he admires Prime Minister Vajpayee, he doesn’t think a debate on conversions is the right approach. “Surely, the debate at this juncture must be on how to make minorities feel more secure!” he exclaims.

There was just another instance of Nariman finding himself as incensed over political developments as he is today–and that was when Indira Gandhi declared the Emergency. The day after the promulgation saw him resign from his post of Additional Solicitor.

He chuckles as he recalls the response to this move. “One set of people maintained that I was a damn fool, because I would have become Attorney General. The other set–the more uncharitable lot–were convinced that I had resigned to do Mrs Gandhi’s election case!”

But not many came to know of Nariman’s resignation at that time because of censorship. It was through The New York Times that the news reached India.

Today, Nariman finds solace in the fact that Indian society’s innate resilience saw it emerge from the dark days of the Emergency unscathed, if not strengthened, in its commitment to democratic rights. He believes the country will emerge from this bleak phase as well.

As he puts it, “People have never lost their sense of values, society as a whole has not lost its sense of values. That’s what keeps the whole of society sane.”