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After Namo, What?
Opinion | Articles | Chhotebhai | 10-Jul-2025
When Nehru was the Prime Minister of India Welles Hagen wrote a book in 1963, “After Nehru, Who?” When Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister a similar sentiment emerged, the TINA factor. There is no alternative. History bears testimony that both Nehru and Rajiv were not indispensable.
Presently, the BJP led by Narendra Modi (Namo) has also tagged the TINA factor; as the Godi media tries to project his invincibility and longevity; given the disarray in the Rahul Gandhi led Congress. Be that as it may I recall the sarcasm of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who said that “The sun never sets on the British empire” and what could a naked fakir like Mahatma Gandhi do about it? Again, history tells another story. Churchill is consigned to the dustbins of history while Mahatma Gandhi is invoked as the Vishwaguru of the modern era.
I have therefore treaded cautiously while choosing the title of this article by asking What, not Who or When. My guess is as good as anybody else’s as to when the Namo era will end or who will replace him. Hence the blunt question – After Namo, What? That was a journalist’s lead in. My real question is “During the Namo era, what should we do? This question is addressed to the Minorities in India, and more specifically to the Catholic/ Christian community that rightly feels under constant threat.
So what should the community do, other than recording all the atrocities, real or imaginary? We need a deeper analysis to first identify the major causes of resentment against Christians by the Hindutvavadis. This is a perception battle, not necessarily based on facts.
They are the so-called forced conversions and huge real estate holdings seen as a British legacy. Let us address these issues squarely. Yes, people have converted to Christianity, but going by Census data the spike has been after Independence. The only spike was between 1961 and 1971, probably because newly liberated Goa was included in the 1971 census, thereby raising the Christian population to 2.7%. Subsequent census show that the population plateaued out at 2.3%, as per the 2011 census. Let us now await the 2027 census figures.
A recent claim in an RSS magazine states that Christians collectively own the most property after the Government of India. Their claim is baseless and laughable. My perception is that the Catholic Church in particular acquired most of its properties after Independence. A nationwide survey would be impossible, but sometimes a microcosm helps. In my hometown, Kanpur, there was only one Catholic Church and one convent school before Independence. This has now mushroomed to 6 parishes and more than 20 institutions. Even then that is a far cry from being second to the Government of India.
It is therefore important to counter false propaganda with facts. However, there is an old saying, “Don’t confuse me with the facts as I have already made up my mind”! This is equally true of the USA under Trump, which the world once looked up to as the mother of democracy, liberty and equality.
Allegations and propaganda apart, my question stands. “What can or should we do during the Namo era?” I shall use a management tool – Areas of Concern and Areas of Control. We may be concerned about many things in the country and the world. But we need to focus on our Areas of Control – what is within our grasp. I shall limit myself to two points – Arrogance and Inculturation.
Arrogance is relative in nature, while pride may not necessarily be so. This arrogance was earlier manifest in two forms—doctrinal and cultural. Christianity, and more so Catholicism, wore this arrogance on its sleeve, as evident in this statement “There is no salvation outside the Catholic Church” (Extra ecclesiam nulla salus), made by St Cyprian of Carthage in the 3rd century.
This alienated not just non-Christians, but even non-Catholics. Fortunately, Vatican II jettisoned this mindset. Sadly, even today, there are many self-righteous, traditionalist Catholics who rub their hands gleefully while despatching others to hell. They follow the dictum “We are the few, the chosen few, the rest of you be damned. There’s place enough in hell for you, we don’t want heaven crammed”. Shocking, but true, of many of us.
Doctrinal arrogance has now been replaced by institutional arrogance. See how institutional heads treat the hoi polloi, including lay Catholics. They are isolated and insulated behind high walls, becoming a power unto themselves. Across north India, where I live, the number of Catholics is miniscule, and local Catholics even more so. But look at the number of elite institutions that are disproportionate to those numbers. They are now a counter witness.
The worst example that I have seen is Agra, where the church was established 500 years ago in the time of Akbar. There are hardly any local Catholics, but institutions abound, especially in the Cathedral compound. In Allahabad too, huge institutions dwarf the cathedral. On a recent visit to Indore I was shown two roads fully occupied by Christian institutions.
Jesus had said to his disciples, “I send you out as lambs among wolves” (Lk 10:3). Far from vulnerable lambs we have gone out as institutional lions, driving people away from us.
This arrogance must be replaced by humility. Jesus said “I am gentle and humble of heart” (Mat 11:29). He further said, “The one who humbles himself will be raised up” (Lk 14:11). Paul and Peter expressed similar thoughts. “Nothing is to be done out of jealousy or vanity; instead out of humility of mind” (Phi 2:3). “Humility towards one another must be the garment you all wear constantly” (I Pet 5:5).
After Humility comes another H – Honesty, again something within our area of control. Paul says, “Be ready for any honest work” (Tit 3:1); and “He should exert himself at some honest job with his own hands” (Eph 4:28).
This leads us to the third H – Hardwork. Paul again exhorts us: “Work with your hands as we have charged you” (I Thes 4:11). “Go on quietly working and earning the food that you eat” (2 Thes 3:12). “Whatever your task, work heartily as serving the Lord, not men” (Col 3:23).
The fourth H that is within our control is Harmony. “Live in harmony with one another” (Rom 13:6, 15:5). I believe that these 4 H’s are well within our control and can go a long way in bearing true witness to Jesus and diffusing communal tensions.
Besides this we need to avoid all forms of aggressive evangelisation, especially putting down other religions or their beliefs. Jesus himself had warned us about over enthusiasm: “You travel over sea and land to make a single proselyte, and anyone who becomes one you make twice as fit for hell as you are” (Mat 23:15).
Proselytes were those Gentiles who had converted to Judaism, replete with the rites of initiation like circumcision. So even in Jesus’ time faith and culture got intertwined. This is the same mistake that over zealous foreign missionaries committed. Barring exceptions like Robert de Nobili and Bede Griffiths, they mistook western culture to be an integral part of Christianity. Pasta accompanied the Pater Nostra. In all oriental religions one enters a place of worship barefoot. But here we enter with our footwear, something that non-Christians find scandalous.
What may seem innocuous to us has deep significance for others. A group of nuns had entered a Muslim village. The women were surprised. “We use our veils to cover our faces; they use them to cover their hair”. When a priest in a cassock entered another village the people were surprised to see a man wearing pants under a petticoat. These are real life incidents. Another obnoxious practice was that of having a rosary dangling below the waist. This again was considered sacrilegious.
Fortunately, Vatican II ushered in an era of inculturation. The Roman genuflection was replaced with the anjali hasta. Most women’s congregations have now switched to sarees. These are positive steps.
We need to recount what Gandhiji said, “I like Christ but I don’t like Christians”. I suspect that what he disliked was the over enthusiastic embrace of western (then colonial) culture, where Makwana became Macwan and Jaikishen became Jackson.
There is one more crucial area of control – paper control. All property papers need to be kept in order. This is also a bone of contention as it is felt that the British gave prime properties to Christians at minimal rates. Hence revenue agencies are itching to swoop down on such properties if their leases have expired or their terms violated. Remember the saying “Keep your powder dry”. Jesus also advocated a state of preparedness in adversity.
“Which of you here intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it” (Lk 14:28). “What king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand?” (Lk 14:31). It is possible that hierarchical leaders may not have applied their minds in their pastoral planning, especially if they have easy foreign money at their disposal.
So instead of bemoaning our fate and waiting for Namo to go, let us look within and around us to see what is within our area of control, to bring about change.
(This is based on a presentation at Indore on the occasion of Indian Christian Day. Views expressed are that of the author, therefore, personal)
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