What is the litmus test of secularism in India? Do we only go by the condition of minorities in the Hindu-dominated states such as Gujarat, Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra? Should we also not see how the Hindus are treated in states where they are in the minority such as Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland and Mizoram and the way our “secular” establishment genuflects before the majority there. Our small but strategically placed tribal state of Mizoram, straddling the Myanmar border, also occupies one of the top spots in literacy with a near 100 per cent literacy rate and school enrolment. So when that state is going for assembly polls this electoral season, you should expect aggressive public discourse on subjects as wide-ranging as jobs, development, aspirations of the young and their addictions, etc. Surprisingly, what is playing out in the electoral scene of Mizoram is outright communalism. Five-time chief minister from the Congress party Pu Lalthanhawla is accused of “compromising the Christian culture” of the state by accepting “tilak” while visiting a Durga Puja in Kolkata in 2011. Posters of the CM with the tilak mark on his forehead have been used by the opposition front, especially in rural areas, to pillory him as a betrayer of the Christian faith of the majority of Mizos. The CM is being targeted for blasphemy by a new front of opposition parties. Projected as Mizoram Democratic Alliance, it is a group of the rump Mizo National Front — the name by which a section of the Mizos led an armed rebellion against the Indian state but later came to an agreement to end the insurgency — the Mizoram People’s Conference and the Maraland Democratic Front. And the main plank of the front has turned out to be the tilak issue which it hopes would strike a chord among the rural Mizos. The two, Presbyterian and Baptist, churches that dominate the state have come together to monitor the election campaign. On the so-called common platform the church provides, the accusation over the tilak is publicly aired. In a counter to this the chief minister only surrenders to the religious argument saying he had the tilak erased soon after. By making the claim, Lalthanhawla only underlines the main argument of the opposition that such a mark was causing disrespect to Christian religion. In any other part of this country such invoking of a religious symbolism to muddy the electoral campaign would have got the Election Commission (EC) in Delhi to act at once as this is against the electoral code of conduct and specific provisions of the Representation of People Act. Apparently Mizoram with its Christian majority seems to be above the Indian law. And where are the rent-a-cause secularists? Far from taking cognizance of this rabid propaganda, the EC has prostrated itself before the all-powerful Christian clergy. The commission had earlier changed the polling date when the opposition political parties objected to a schedule citing it conflicted with the Church assemblage. Will the EC change poll dates elsewhere because of a scheduled meeting of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in the rest of India or that of the Shrimoni Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee in Punjab? The Mizo church routinely tells people what to do and what not to do, including not playing football on Sundays — set apart for worship. And the church’s fiat is enforced! Not that the Congress itself, now a victim of communalisation, has been above aligning with the dominant Church of Mizoram to gain political mileage in the past. The late Rajiv Gandhi had once promised Mizos during an poll campaign that the Congress would work for a political environment as envisaged in the Bible! Indira Gandhi used to have significant meetings with Christian bishops in Kerala when on the campaign trail. The grand old party does not seem to have perceived the contradiction inherent in its proclaimed anti-communal agenda with the active pursuit of pleasing the communal leadership either of the Christian church or other religious groups. The anti-tilak campaign in a distant and small state should not be dismissed as a matter of no consequence in the larger Indian context. It is in fact a part of the growing attempts of various communal elements to distance themselves from the general Indian culture, dubbing it an extension of Hindu worship forms. This is sharply evident in the opposition to lighting the brass lamp that Muslim clerics and political leaders have mandated on their followers. It has been the long-term tendency in the Congress to insist on secular reforms and temple takeovers where Hindus are concerned while playing with the most orthodox elements among minority communities to retain its vote banks. In the process it has promoted an orthodox leadership to emerge as the spokespersons of these minorities. Hindu-dominated India has routinely elected several non-Hindus (Muslims, Christians and Sikhs) to the high offices of president, vice-president and prime minister. Most Hindu-majority states have had non-Hindus as chief ministers as well. Abdul Ghafoor in Bihar, Barkatullah Khan in Rajashtan, Y S Reddy in Andhra Pradesh. The list is just indicative and not exhaustive. How come J&K has never had a Hindu or a Buddhist CM. Both communities, though in minority, have significant percentages of people in the Muslim-majority state. Northeastern states like Mizoram or Nagaland have never had a non-Christain as chief minister. Kashmiri Pandits, once a vibrant community and flag-bearers of the original culture of the valley, have nearly been forced into an exile within India. With the church calling the shots, one can imagine the condition of non-Christians in Mizoram and Nagaland. In the Northeast too much separatist inspiration came from an earlier emphasis of the Christian churches, let in by the British regime to evangelise and emphasise on exclusivity. Today a simple thing like tilak may anger the exclusivists and the EC following the dictate of the Church. With the “secularists” turning a blind eye to all this, we have two brands of “secularism” in India—one, where the Hindus are in the majority and the other where they are not.