Dear Shri Vishnu Deo Ji,
It is the second time I am writing an open letter to you. You may ask why I write an open letter and not a closed one? If I write a closed letter to you—and that too in English—I am sure it will find a place in your wastebasket.

An open letter will at least be read by some people. Hoping against hope, this may even tempt you to read it. That is why I write an open letter. The urge to write to you came when I read the report of a son approaching the Supreme Court of India not for any constitutional protection but to let him bury his father, who was a pastor.

I don't think anywhere else in the world would anyone have had to approach the highest court of the land just to bury a dead body. I am sure you would be embarrassed by the case, for it underscored, sorry to say, the total failure of constitutional values.

I had the privilege of serving as a journalist in Bhopal when Chhattisgarh was still a part of Madhya Pradesh. I struggled to report speeches made by tribal members of the State Assembly from Bastar, for they were not exactly in Sanskritised Hindi, which I understood better.

I was always fascinated by the uniqueness of the Bastar district. It had a heavy concentration of tribals, and it was difficult to believe that the district was larger than Kerala.

That is why I jumped at the opportunity to visit places like Raigarh, Raipur, and Jagdalpur. The Malayalam word for the tribals is Adivasi, which means the aborigines.

Years later, I wrote an article in The Indian Express against the Sangh Parivar calling Adivasis Vanvasis. The terms are not synonymous at all. That aroused my curiosity. When you call a people Adivasi, it means that they are the original settlers of the land. All others are non-tribals.

The Sangh Parivar cannot accept this because it lends sustenance to the argument that Hindus—like the Mughals—came from Central Asia. And they settled on the banks of the Indus and became "Hindus" in due course.

The Parivar has been trying its level best to argue that Hindus, like the tribals, have been sons of the soil since time immemorial. That is why they prefer to call tribals Vanvasis.

In my article, I argued that Vanvasis are like the wild animals which live in the forests. My article angered a Parivar ideologue so much that he spent seven pages of Panchjanya, the mouthpiece of the RSS, to counter my views.

Though it contained many biographical inaccuracies—I am not a Catholic or an agent of the Pope—I considered the article a badge of honour. Efforts to prove that Hindus have been around for as long as man has existed have received a boost after Narendra Modi came to power.

History does not cover a period beyond 5,000 years, and all claims contrary to this are just stories. And we are one of the most imaginative people in the world. An American, Walter Andersen, was needed to write the first authoritative history of the RSS, founded just 100 years ago.

But we have produced writers who could write what happened tens of thousands of years ago—and we treat it as Gospel truth.

When Madhya Pradesh was divided to form Chhattisgarh, I was happy because I believed that it would quicken the process of development in the region.

I do not have to tell you that tribals are very sincere people. They did not know how to lie. While I was in Jagdalpur on an assignment, there was a report about a tribal beheading his wife and walking all the way to the police station with her head in his hand.

He was asked why he did so. His answer was clear and emphatic. He had found his wife in a compromising position with a close relative. He was arrested and produced in court.

He would have told the judge the same story. Under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), then, in force, any person who admitted to committing a criminal act had to be given the severest punishment. The judge did not have any other option. It disproved the theory that one law fits all.

Tribals are honest people unless instigated. At Chaibasa in Jharkhand, I witnessed two tribal women coming to the market. One had two roosters in her hand.

A motorcyclist stopped them. The person on the pillion grabbed the roosters, and they sped away. Of course, they threw some currency notes at them. The lady picked up the money and could do nothing else. I am sure she was forcibly short-changed.

One evening, we received a small story from UNI. It said that a woman selling illicit liquor was arrested from somewhere in today's Chhattisgarh. She had a bottle of liquor which she kept in her loose blouse-like garment. She would pour out liquor for those who paid her. I headlined the story: Bar in the Bra.

My headline caught the attention of the readers as it was boxed on Page 1, but I wondered what was the need to arrest her when liquor was being illicitly distilled across the region.

Wikipedia tells me that you were a follower of a Jan Sangh leader who spent all his life campaigning against Christians. He was the one who gave the idea of "Ghar Wapsi"—that is, forcing Christians and Muslims to return to Hinduism.

Ever since you came to power, a new modus operandi is being tried out. It was such a strategy that forced the pastor's son to approach the apex court for permission to bury his father's body.

Your forefathers were animists, but you are a believer in Hinduism. As a Hindu, you know the concept called Antyesti, which can be translated as "last sacrifice." The Garuda Purana mentions in detail what should be done when a human body ceases to be alive.

Antyesti is the final rite of passage for a Hindu, which helps the soul attain moksha or liberation. It should also mark the end of the cycles of birth and rebirth.

I come from a place where there is a massive "temple" at Ochira, which is open on all four sides. In fact, there is no building as such. Instead, there is a massive tree, which is worshipped because it is believed that Parabrahma is situated under the tree.

Hindus believe that the soul must integrate into Parabrahma, which is the ultimate aim of life.

Antyesti involves four stages:
1.    Preparation of the body for cremation by giving it a bath,
2.    Chanting of sacred mantras,
3.    Cremation, and
4.    Collection of ashes and immersion in rivers like the Ganga.

You also know that the earlier the four stages are completed, the better it is for the deceased to attain moksha.

Muslims also want quick burial—in fact, as early as possible. They don't cremate because they believe in the concept of the body regaining its shape and life again. Christians also believe in the sanctity of the physical body.

I do not know what happened after the Supreme Court gave its split verdict. What shocked me was a video that I happened to see on WhatsApp. It showed a group of people blocking the burial of a Christian man in a government-owned burial ground. I saw the dead man's daughter falling down because she could not bear the loss, the indignity, and the shame of her inability to bury her father's body.

The Christians were calling the police and the administration, but there was no response. In the three clips I saw, the people were crying while the hoodlums were threatening them. I felt really ashamed watching the video.

I have no idea how the issue was resolved. I wondered why, in this era of instant communication, the police could not arrive there, arrest the obstructionists, and allow the burial to happen. Imagine what would have happened if a Hindu cremation was disrupted!

The body of a person—whatever be their religion or gender—is held in reverence. When a body is taken to the cremation ground in a procession, shouting Ram Satya Hai (Rama is the truth), or a Christian body is taken in a cortège with the famous Malayalam hymn Samayamam rathathil swarga yaathra cheyyunnu (Riding the chariot of time, he begins his heavenly journey) being played on a music system, vehicles prefer to wait rather than overtake.

You would have seen films—Hindi or other regional languages—where the police officer removes his cap when he sees a body instead of a living person. I asked a senior police officer whether there is any rule which mandates the officer to do so. He answered in the negative.

I am happy that the policemen do this—at least on celluloid. It shows how a body evokes respect. It is considered sacrilege to dishonour a body, even in war.

What is happening on a large scale in Chhattisgarh, as reports suggest, is a deliberate attempt not to allow Christians to bury bodies in community burial grounds, which are nobody's personal property. This is done to harass them and force them to convert. They are also compelled to carry the body to distant places at tremendous cost to give it a decent burial. This is nothing but shameful conduct.

As human beings, none of us should use the human body as a tool for political ends. If Christians are criminals, use all the laws of the land against them. But nobody should play with their dead bodies.

When Alexander the Great—who conquered vast territories from Greece to India and was one of history's most brilliant military commanders—died, he instructed his people to keep his hands outside the coffin. This was to let people know that, despite conquering so many countries, he was not taking anything with him. We all came to this earth with nothing in hand, and we would return with nothing in hand. I wish the gentlemen who play with bodies realise this.

Have you heard about the film Raja Harishchandra? I saw some portions of the film. Produced by Dadasaheb Phalke, regarded as the father of Indian cinema, it was the first full-length silent film made in India. He got the inspiration to make the film when he saw the movie The Life of Christ.

Raja Harishchandra is respected for his unwavering commitment to truth and justice, even at great personal cost. For want of space, let me simply mention that there is a scene in the film where the king and his wife are unable to organise the cremation of their only son because they are in the forest and have nothing to call their own. In distress, he sends his wife to the local king, seeking help to cremate her son while he guards the body.

The picture captures the agony of two parents unable to cremate the body of their son—born as the result of a boon after many years of prayer. The condition of many Christians in Chhattisgarh is more or less the same.

Whatever may be your personal beliefs, your commitment is to protect the Constitution in all respects. And it mandates you to be just and fair to one and all—tribals, non-tribals, Christians, Muslims, atheists, and the like.

With all best wishes,
Yours etc