Trauma of Partition
Remember the partition of India in 1947. It brought
untold suffering and unprecedented humiliation in its
train. Men, women and children were given a profuse
blood bath when we were gloating over our bloodless
revolution. A glorious dream of independent, happy
India, born out of love, goodwill and brotherhood, a
dream nurtured for generations was blown to pieces
because of religion. The work of Mahatma Gandhi and all
the great patriots of this country was destroyed in no
time. Therefore, one must be extremely careful in
determining the place of religion vis-a-vis the nation.
Even after Independence the problem of religious
minorities continues to be one of the most vexing and
intriguing problems of contemporary India. The
temperament of the people of the country, and the trauma
of India's partition contributed to the thinking of the
Constituent Assembly on religious minority groups. There
are elaborate articles on "minority rights" ensuring
freedom of religious beliefs; in fact in no other
constitution have the minorities had it so good as in
ours. One might even call India a paradise of
minorities. Yet, in no other country the religious
groups have made such a serious encroachment on the
happy, harmonious national life as in India.
Christianity is a part of the problem under study. As a
religion it is associated with India for centuries and
Christians are a religious minority consisting of about
3% of the total population. They are numerically strong
in certain states such as Kerala and the North East India
region. In such states as Andhra and Tamilnadu their
number is not negligible. So also in a few small pockets
like Goa, where they are not only influential but often
decisive.
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