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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.
Author : Shripaty Sastry
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