Learned Chief Justice of India & Good Friday: Needs to be better informed and sensitive in a multicultural society
Thought of not commenting on the controversy about the Hon’ble Chief Justice of the Indian Supreme Court insisting on holding an important meeting of judges on Good Friday, which is a national holiday. However, I am quite disturbed by the insensitivity or lack of deep awareness on the part of the learned Chief Justice, even after the matter has been discussed with him. The significance of such days, observances associated with such occasions, the place they have in the life of people who believe are truly matters that ought to be properly understood by officials at all levels of judiciary in any multicultural nation and society. Those at the higher levels of judiciary must be better informed and even be enlightened, if you will. In the true spirit of Easter, I would take a charitable view and assume he is not sufficiently informed. He, perhaps, is a little stubborn too, as those in such positions tend to be when confronted with their own weaknesses.
There is another reason why I would seriously think he is naïve and misinformed. In India, most religious occasions tend to be marked by festivities and the “Good Friday” makes many non-Christians in India to presume it as a kind of festival in which people wish each other in good spirit “Happy …” or “Enjoy …” etc. I recollect a similar controversy of my university days when initially a decision was taken by a hostel mess committee, entirely without too much thought, to have what was called a special dinner on a Good Friday (a sumptuous dinner with 'special menu' including options of additional non-veg or veg items). When the decision was announced, the tiny number of Christians spoke to the Hostel Committee and requested to postpone the event to next Friday (after Easter). Soon some miscreants with communal agenda intervened and made it into a prestige issue saying Committee’s decision should not be changed; those who have objections can stay away.
Another quite amusing (or shocking) incident centres on a leading figure of a major Gujarat-based NGO that was involved in peace-building efforts in Gujarat. They were working closely with the uprooted Muslim families who had suffered greatly in the 2002 riots. They were trying to bridge the communal divide between the minority and the majority communities. They were working on a long-term effort and had large number of workshops and meetings on themes like pluralism, peace-building and conflict resolution. I was travelling with the gentleman who is a Hindu. The NGO had Muslims in senior positions too. We had stopped for a tea break in a town with a large Muslim presence. There were some traffic problems because of Muharram. Having been reminded of Muharram, he took out his cell phone. He told me that he had forgotten to “Greet” his Muslim friends (send the usual SMS – XYZ-Mubarak). I asked him to forget that. He was baffled. That started a discussion on Eid, Muharram etc. He hardly knew anything. He was completely unaware of what Muharram is or about the differences between 'EId Al-Fitr’ (Ramadhan feast) and 'Eid Al-Adhha’ (Feast of Sacrifice). To him they were all ‘festivals’, even after being involved in the work for communal harmony!
Based on many of these experiences and concerned with the vicious communal hatred spreading in Indian society, especially in Gujarat, I did a small study on the possibilities to strengthen previously well-entrenched multi-cultural traditions in traditional communities with the support of Aga Khan Foundation, with the involvement of a few other scholars. One of our key suggestions was about the need to have proper component of active learning about various traditions as part of the internal organizational training within any organization. Each person must know about the significance of special days, fasts, feasts, etc. And, most importantly, the organization must pro-actively ‘enable’ occasions for the staff to learn about such significant days directly and interactively from those who observe those days. Preferably, the learning must happen through close interaction with those within the organization or those they are directly in contact with.
It seems that the learned Chief Justice too suffers from the malady of being too ill-informed or being woefully unaware of what ‘Good Friday’ means to most practicing Christians from almost all denominations of Christianity. Many like the Chief Justice, I suspect, misunderstand what even a Church or the nature of Christian Worship is. Perhaps, like many others, he too thinks that on such an occasion his learned Christian brother or sister can take part in an official event after making a quick visit to a nearby Church to offer short prayers. However, that is not how Good Friday or for that matter any other prayers are conducted in a Church. For all practicing Christians, Good Friday marking the crucifixion of Lord Jesus Christ is the most pious day in the religious calendar, marked by fasting, extensive prayers and Bible reading. In most Churches, Good Friday remembrance prayers go on for more than 4 to 6 hours. Some are much longer including elaborate procession carrying the symbolic Crucified Christ. The fasting period of Great Lent (40 to 50 days) comes to an end only with the Easter Feast marking the resurrection of Christ. Of course, there are some Christian believers who do not take all this too seriously.
The stand of the Chief Justice reminds me that there is truly a need for the judiciary at all levels to be properly informed and even without it, learn to respect traditions of all faiths.
NEW DELHI: The controversy over Supreme Court Chief Justice HL Dattu holding a conference on Good Friday
There is another reason why I would seriously think he is naïve and misinformed. In India, most religious occasions tend to be marked by festivities and the “Good Friday” makes many non-Christians in India to presume it as a kind of festival in which people wish each other in good spirit “Happy …” or “Enjoy …” etc. I recollect a similar controversy of my university days when initially a decision was taken by a hostel mess committee, entirely without too much thought, to have what was called a special dinner on a Good Friday (a sumptuous dinner with 'special menu' including options of additional non-veg or veg items). When the decision was announced, the tiny number of Christians spoke to the Hostel Committee and requested to postpone the event to next Friday (after Easter). Soon some miscreants with communal agenda intervened and made it into a prestige issue saying Committee’s decision should not be changed; those who have objections can stay away.
Another quite amusing (or shocking) incident centres on a leading figure of a major Gujarat-based NGO that was involved in peace-building efforts in Gujarat. They were working closely with the uprooted Muslim families who had suffered greatly in the 2002 riots. They were trying to bridge the communal divide between the minority and the majority communities. They were working on a long-term effort and had large number of workshops and meetings on themes like pluralism, peace-building and conflict resolution. I was travelling with the gentleman who is a Hindu. The NGO had Muslims in senior positions too. We had stopped for a tea break in a town with a large Muslim presence. There were some traffic problems because of Muharram. Having been reminded of Muharram, he took out his cell phone. He told me that he had forgotten to “Greet” his Muslim friends (send the usual SMS – XYZ-Mubarak). I asked him to forget that. He was baffled. That started a discussion on Eid, Muharram etc. He hardly knew anything. He was completely unaware of what Muharram is or about the differences between 'EId Al-Fitr’ (Ramadhan feast) and 'Eid Al-Adhha’ (Feast of Sacrifice). To him they were all ‘festivals’, even after being involved in the work for communal harmony!
Based on many of these experiences and concerned with the vicious communal hatred spreading in Indian society, especially in Gujarat, I did a small study on the possibilities to strengthen previously well-entrenched multi-cultural traditions in traditional communities with the support of Aga Khan Foundation, with the involvement of a few other scholars. One of our key suggestions was about the need to have proper component of active learning about various traditions as part of the internal organizational training within any organization. Each person must know about the significance of special days, fasts, feasts, etc. And, most importantly, the organization must pro-actively ‘enable’ occasions for the staff to learn about such significant days directly and interactively from those who observe those days. Preferably, the learning must happen through close interaction with those within the organization or those they are directly in contact with.
It seems that the learned Chief Justice too suffers from the malady of being too ill-informed or being woefully unaware of what ‘Good Friday’ means to most practicing Christians from almost all denominations of Christianity. Many like the Chief Justice, I suspect, misunderstand what even a Church or the nature of Christian Worship is. Perhaps, like many others, he too thinks that on such an occasion his learned Christian brother or sister can take part in an official event after making a quick visit to a nearby Church to offer short prayers. However, that is not how Good Friday or for that matter any other prayers are conducted in a Church. For all practicing Christians, Good Friday marking the crucifixion of Lord Jesus Christ is the most pious day in the religious calendar, marked by fasting, extensive prayers and Bible reading. In most Churches, Good Friday remembrance prayers go on for more than 4 to 6 hours. Some are much longer including elaborate procession carrying the symbolic Crucified Christ. The fasting period of Great Lent (40 to 50 days) comes to an end only with the Easter Feast marking the resurrection of Christ. Of course, there are some Christian believers who do not take all this too seriously.
The stand of the Chief Justice reminds me that there is truly a need for the judiciary at all levels to be properly informed and even without it, learn to respect traditions of all faiths.
NEW DELHI: The controversy over Supreme Court Chief Justice HL Dattu holding a conference on Good Friday
Comments