Last week, I learned from Cedric Prakash, S.J., who currently holds the Marquette University’s Distinguished Wade Chair, that the people of India do not have words to express the concept of “thank you.”   Culturally, their orientation comes from a place of non-possession that makes recognition for giving unnecessary.

Confounded, I asked:  “What if you really want to express your gratitude?”

Fr. Prakash patiently reminded me, “Lisa, gratitude is an attitude.”

Despite this cross-cultural teaching, I now find myself writing about Fr. Prakash unable to refrain from using the word “thank you” to express how grateful I feel when contemplating his selfless dedication to defending the human rights of minorities in his home state of Gujarat, India.

Fr. Prakash heads one of Gujarat’s most vibrant human rights organizations, aptly called ‘Prashant’ which means “all pervasive peace.”   Its mission includes promoting human rights, justice ,and peace to ensure the mandate of the Society of Jesus.    In particular, he crusades for the protection of religious minorities in Gujarat, where among 58 million inhabitants the majority are Hindus, and only 9.1% are Muslim,  .56% are Christian, and 1% are Jain (an ancient Dharmic religion).

MU Students and faculty gathered in Eisenberg Hall last Wednesday, November 10, 2009, to learn more about Fr. Prakash’s work and the issues he confronts.  For example, we learned about a state “conversion law” which requires government permission to change religions; a practice of “encounter killings” where police extrajudicially kill young Muslim detainees while pretending to re-enact a fabricated crime; and state indoctrination in public elementary schools that use textbooks with Nazi propaganda.

Yet, one horrid event symbolizes most potently the grave danger that religious minorities face in India.   The “Gujarat Carnage of 2002” occurred when, according to Human Rights Watch, a mob of Hindus “undertook a three-day retaliatory killing spree leaving hundreds of Muslims dead and tens of thousands homeless and dispossessed, marking the country’s worst religious bloodletting in a decade.”  The attack came as a reaction to rumors that Muslims had bombed a train of Hindu activists, a claim later refuted by a government investigatory commission.  While the state government blamed the event on “spontaneous violence,” human rights groups unearthed evidence that local political leaders played a role in planning and facilitating the event.

As history shows, the truth eventually pervades and the Gujarat government’s ongoing efforts to conceal the truth has met with fierce resistance.   When it tried to ban the prize winning film Parzania, a fictional depiction of the 2002 massacre, the state confronted protests at home and abroad.

Not surprisingly, as a leader in unveiling the truth about religious persecution in Gujarat, Fr. Prakash has become one of the local government’s primary targets.  The government currently seeks to seize his passport, as well as initiate fabricated criminal investigations against him. Yet, Fr. Prakash cannot be dissuaded from his dedication to the most vulnerable people of his state, to educate the world about their plights, and to bring the government to account.

For example, he recently testified before the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which in August 2009 issued its report on India declaring that “during the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat, India’s National Human Rights Commission found that the Indian government not only failed to prevent the attacks against religious minorities, but that state and local officials aided and participated in the violence.”   Significantly, the United States denied Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi a visa to the United States in 2008 based on his complicity in the religious persecutions.

Justice can be slow, but it always arrives eventually.  Criminal investigations are now underway to clarify the criminal liability of the Gujarat Carnage.  In one ruling regarding bail for a suspected participant in the mob violence, the Gujarat high court found the massacre to be “almost unparalleled in modern history” of India, and crimes that undermine the very foundation of the rule of law. Witnesses also reveal that calls to the government for help, including to Chief Minister Modi, went unheeded.

In light of the horrendous violence against religious minorities in Gujarat, it comes as a sad irony to realize that Mahatma Gandhi spearheaded his non violent movement “Satyagraha” (the force of truth) in Pujarat, which led to the Dandi Salt March and eventually the freedom of India.  It reminds us that human rights protections require constant vigilance from all of us.  As Ghandi himself remarked, “An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does the truth become an error because nobody sees it.”

Indeed, Fr. Prakash ended his presentation calling upon us to be aware of these human rights violations, and to confront those who use resources to propagate hate in India.  And then, he unceremoniously nodded his head in a gesture of deep gratitude.