MORAL MAJORITY

There is a general perception that informal subgroups or even disparate large

segments within many nations pursue a strict moral agenda, usually based upon a
deep belief in a religion. The term Moral Majority refers to such people. Whether
such people form a majority or not is highly debatable and remains unproven. Nor
are there any reliable surveys devised to test such majority claims. But in the
name of Moral Majority, there are always some groups who launch campaigns,
often smacking of fanaticism and, even resort to criminal and offensive political or
social, often a mob-like response against individuals or groups whose actions and
behaviour dare depart from the perceived moral standards of the so-called
majority.

Every country, including India, has this phenomenon of “Moral Majority” that
from time to time causes dissension or discord in society, distends issues to their
extremities and pits opposing groups who abuse, confront and clash with one
another—all in the name of majority. Usually, such groups are informal and
disorganised but there are also some political or cultural or religious outfits who
assume collective burden of watching and guarding the society as a whole against
any immoral influence or action, imported manners, fads or fashions from an
alien culture. In India, which is a big and secular country, there are numerous such
entities who are organised and always ready and eager to jump into the fray
whenever a slight occasion for moral reaction arises. It could be a book, cartoon,
painting or speech or some kind of entertainment and the Moral Majority is there
to condemn, howl and hurt the protagonist of any so-perceived “immoral action”.

In India, the concept of Moral Majority does not appear to have had much impact
on politics. In the USA, however, where the term “Moral Majority” gained wide
currency, Ronald Regan’s election in 1980 and George Bush’s elections are said to
have been greatly influenced and their victories attributed to Moral Majority. In
fact, the Moral Majority was a political organisation in the USA that had an
agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying and set up
conservative Christian political action committees that campaigned on issues
that, it believed, were important to maintaining its Christian conception of moral
law, a conception they believed represented the opinions of the majority of
Americans (hence the movement’s name).

Some Indian secularists label the Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh and the Shiv
Sena as organisations that represent in India the equivalent counterparts of the
US-based Moral Majority we have described above but such a view does not have
much basis simply because India is so vast a nation and is so lacking in moral fibre
that claims or accusations of being Moral Majority of any kind does not hold
water. The same is true of the Muslim outfit Deoband that pronounces fatwas of
one kind or the other that hardly rub on the majority of Indian Muslims. In India,
it is the political parties and politicians who dominate and hold sway over all so-
called religious lobbies and Indian politicians are devoid of any moral fervour.
They are wily and make use of religion and religious moral groups only to grind
their own axes.

The devil is not a big concern in the Indian tradition, nor is Moral Majority an
Indian concept.