Baha?i needs support

Baha’u’llah, the Prophet founder of the Baha’i faith, founded the remarkable Baha’i faith which now has about 6 million followers across 230 nations who belong to a myriad (2100 is the estimate) ethnic, racial and tribal groups. India’s pluralistic tradition has understandably made it the largest Baha’i concentration in the world: its 2 million Baha’i population is followed by the second largest grouping of 3.5 lakh Bahai’s in the country of Baha’u’llah’s origin — Iran.

The Baha’is are a peaceful community and believing in the oneness of God, of mankind and of religion. The basic object of the faith is to safeguard the interest and promote the unity of the entire human race as well as foster the spirit of love and fellowship among men. Their founder strived for world peace and the unity of mankind by founding a new system of global governance, establishing the equality of men and women, advocating universal compulsory education and charging its followers with individual and social transformation.

Yet in Iran today, the Baha’is are a severely discriminated and harassed community. Ironically, while Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians are recognised minorities in Iran, Baha’is, who aggregate a larger minority than all other minorities of Iran put together, are not even recognised as a minority. There appears to be a systematic, de jure persecution and discrimination against them by the Iranian State. Baha’i youth are formally and officially denied admission into colleges and universities in Iran. Those in the course of education are dismissed midstream from university. Consequently, Baha’is set up college classes in followers’ homes. In 1998, Iranian officials raided 500 homes where such classes were held, arrested several teachers and confiscated high value equipment, books and furniture.

Baha’i holy sites have been systematically razed to the ground. In June 2004, a heritage building on a Baha’i holy site was destroyed. The Iranian town of Yazd witnessed invasion of Baha’i homes, beating up of Baha’is and desecration of graveyards with the connivance of the local administration in late 2004. No question of punishment of the perpetrators has even arisen.

More sinister incidents of physical brutality have been reported and some documented in reports submitted to the United Nations. Ten Baha’i women were arrested and charged with the crime of holding religious classes for children and youth. They were hanged. Over 200 Baha’is have been killed since the early Eighties. Over 1,000 Baha’is have been imprisoned. They have been deprived of pensions, fired from jobs and subjected to organised, official State discrimination. A memorandum drawn up by the Supreme Revolutionary Council of Iran in 1991 on the ‘Baha’i question’ specifically called for them to be dealt with in a way ‘that their progress and development shall be blocked’. Some reports asserted that after executing Baha’is by the firing squad, Iranian officials would demand payment for the price of the bullets from the victims’ families.

More recently, Kayhan, the official Tehran daily newspaper, has carried a series of over 30 articles, all extremely critical and defamatory of the Baha’is. Radio and TV broadcasts have joined in condemning Baha’i beliefs. An anti-Baha’i society, the Hojjatieh, specifically committed to the destruction of the Bahai faith, receives full government support.

The Baha’is are a significant minority in India. The architectural marvel of the Lotus Temple in Delhi is testimony to their commitment to unity in diversity. The lotus has deep-rooted significance in the art, culture and religion of India.

As a minority community in India, the Baha’is are not unjustified in expecting help from official authorities here to convey the plight of their community in Iran, to appropriate authorities in that country through appropriate channels. India would clearly do the same, if the need arose, for some of the other minorities in India who are also present as small minorities in Iran. The Baha’is have a right to similar official intervention.

Poll pall

Elections — be they municipal, national or those of professional bodies and associations — are always an experience with much to learn from. Elections to the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA), which I unsuccessfully contested recently, reflected the worst and best traits of character. I ascribe my loss to the peculiar declaration system under the SCBA rules, where a large number of SCBA members — including the supporters of a candidate — are still unable to vote, unless the candidate has started sufficiently early to gather and file declarations from such members before the unusually early deadline of February 28, for a May 5 election. But I enjoyed the diverse traits of human behaviour that I came across in this period. Even if one were to ignore a losing candidate’s explanation for the loss, the fact that so many unexpected faces, with no demands, voluntarily came forward to help, was an interesting comment on human kindness. A second category comprised the hard-boiled electoral class, which surfaces only during election time, seeking to underscore its importance as organisers, vote-getters and scaremongers. A third is the downright crooked class of those who use pressure tactics to extract monetary or other gain. The most interesting is the fourth class — the ones with a straight face and great enthusiasm and warmth. These are the ones who assure a candidate that their vote is all for the candidate. One knows well enough that this isn’t true. Yet one marvels at the hypocrisy and their smugness in assuming that they have fooled the candidate, though the latter is fully aware of the treachery and betrayal but must play the electoral game with a fixed smile pasted on his face and pretend to accept these declarations of fealty. Elections are therefore interesting because they represent, graphically and poignantly, the entire range of human emotions, from good and bad.