THE NEED FOR A BAN ON RELIGIOUS PROCESSIONS
… none of us has any right to impose our religious presence on people of other faiths. That is exactly what religious processions do and that is why I think it is time we curbed our desire to organize them.
I have not found a single line in any scripture of any faith or in the pronouncements of prophets of different religions exhorting followers to proclaim their faith by taking out processions: in short religions processions have no religious sanction. They are an entirely man-manufactured tradition designed to disrupt civic life and annoy people who belong to other faiths. They succeed in doing both.
Processions and parades take place in all countries. But they are largely of a secular character. In the many years I lived in foreign countries I hardly came across a single religious procession. The few I read about were like those in India, taken out to provoke hostility and like those in Ireland of protestant Orangemen through streets inhabited by Catholics. They invariably succeeded in achieving their sinister object. Christians and Muslims do not take out many processions. One occasionally hears of statues of Virgin Mary or some saint being paraded through the streets. But not very frequently. Sunni Muslims have no tradition of procession taking. Shias do so once a year at Muharram. Processions are a disease largely confined to Hindus, Sikhs and Jains.
We should appeal to leaders of these communities to do some rethinking on the subject. Some Hindu festivals are procession-based. Immersion of idols of Kali and Ganapati require them to be taken out from places where they are installed. The rath yatra (literally chariot journey) at Jagannath Puri in Orissa is entirely processional. So are some Hindu festivals in South India. Exceptions could be made in these cases.
I know there is no religious sanction for processions in Sikhism. Indeed, right through the 40-year rule of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, there is not one reference in his daily diaries to processions on the birthdays of the Gurus or on the anniversaries of their martyrdom. Though a devout Sikh, the maharajah took part in only two processions in the year: One on Basant Panchami, when he led his Amazonian bodyguard to pay homage at the tomb of Madho Lal Hussain (a Sufi saint), and the other during Dussehra. Mammoth processions led by elephants, horsemen and bands, which have become de rigueur of Sikh religious expression, began during British rule and continue with increasing fervour.
I have nothing against religious gatherings. By all means have your Ram Leelas – but in grounds meant for them. Have your dewans and keertans in open spaces when the congregations are too large to be contained in gurduwaras. But none of us has any right to impose our religious presence on people of other faiths. That is exactly what religious processions do and that is why I think it is time we curbed our desire to organize them. This has to be done by leaders of different religious communities and not left to the government because any governmental action in this matter is bound to be misunderstood and resented. If you agree with me, write to the president of the temple or gurudwara committee. If you don’t, write to me giving reasons for disagreeing with me.