First person: Why are some politicians afraid of India’s long-standing expressions of pluralism?

This week, Scroll’s Tabassum Barnagarwala wrote a report headlined “How MP police ignored constable’s word denying Jabbar Khan forcibly converted people to Christianity.”

In mid-August, Sehore in Madhya Pradesh made national news when a man named Jabbar Khan was arrested on charges of forcibly converting people to Christianity at a prayer meeting. Among those at the meeting was a police constable named Virendra Ahirwar. He told Scroll that he was born Hindu and remains so, even as he has followed “Christ’s teachings” for the last eight years.

“None of us have converted to Christianity,” he said. “It is a very personal belief.”

Ahirwar’s statement highlights a nuance often lost in political discussions: that following the teachings of a faith does not necessarily erase one’s identity.

This, to me, is a story that feels very Indian.

I was reminded of my conversation with my childhood best friend Sarah, who has lived in the United States for the past seven years. I, a Hindu, and she, a Muslim, studied in a Christian school. She told me her American friends were surprised and even a little puzzled that we sang hymns and recited the “Our Father” prayer every morning.

In the United States, secularism is very religion-neutral, she said. Any overt religious practice, whether in schools or public life,...

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