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S U B C O N T I N E N T A L D R I F T
No One Wins
The dust settles after the papal visit, and everyone's covered in dirt
By APARISIM GHOSH
November 11, 1999
Web posted at 1 p.m. Hong Kong time, 12 a.m. EDT
Now that the papal tour of India is over, it's time for postmortems. Who benefited from all the fuss kicked up before and during the Pontiff's visit?
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Not the Hindu-fundamentalist goons, whose pathetic attempts to disrupt the Pope's trip won them plenty of international media coverage but not much else. By airing their paranoia about the mass conversion of Hindus by Christian missionaries, these folks merely joined the ranks of such nutty conspiracy theorists as those who believe Martians landed in Roswell and left Bill Gates behind.
Not John Paul II, who displayed appalling manners (and very poor political judgment) by calling on the Roman Catholic faith to keep up the good work of converting Asians to Christianity. He came across as a dinner guest who, instead of complimenting his hosts on their home, boasts that his own house is much better.
Not India's Roman Catholics, whose enjoyment of the papal visit was marred by the nastiness that surrounded it. They too will suffer the long-term effects of the Pope's indiscreet public utterances: Hindu fanatics, who already suspect Christians of evangelical zealotry, now have the Pontiff's speeches as proof. How can you claim innocence, they will ask, when your leader expressly ordered you to convert nonbelievers?
Not PM Atal Behari Vajpayee, who showed yet again that he is incapable of controlling the lunatic fringe of his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Vajpayee's own credentials as a moderate are impeccable, but if he can't keep his attack dogs on a leash, you've got to wonder how strong his grip on power is.
Not opposition leader Sonia Gandhi, who shed what little dignity she had left by refusing to bow before the Pontiff or kiss his ring as her Roman Catholic faith demands. Apparently she was advised that such a gesture would be political suicide since it would remind Indians of her foreign origins and foreign religion. Message to Sonia: sack your advisers. Those Indians who care enough about religion are not likely to be impressed by a woman who abandoned hers for the sake of votes.
And the greatest loser of all was India, whose reputation for tolerance has been besmirched before an international audience by a few fanatics and incompetent politicians. Gone is the image of a secular India, where people of all faiths are free to worship their gods. Forgotten is the fact that New Delhi continues to shelter religious refugees like the Dalai Lama and hundreds of thousands of Tibetans while the rest of the world pays only lip service to their cause. In the minds of those who followed the papal visit on TV or in the newspapers, India is a land of fundamentalists where even the poor, frail, old Pope is unwelcome. It's a travesty--and a tragedy.
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