‘Karwan-e-mohabbat’ was an unusual journey of love, atonement and solidarity led by Harsh Mander – a committed, genuine voice of protest. It was a different type of journey: to atone for the mob lynching violence inflicted upon innocent people. Starting from Assam, winding through West Bengal, Jharkhand, Delhi, UP, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh, the journey ended in Delhi. It was very courageous and magnanimous on the part of Vidyajyoti College of Theology (Delhi) to participate in this journey; seven of their students joined this ‘karwan’ as a sign of solidarity with the victims of mob violence. They were with the people in their protest voice; they were with them to atone for the violence; they were with them in solidarity! Thank you friends for this witness of Jesuit collaboration!

Inviting the majority community to atone for the atrocities inflicted upon the minorities in the name of ‘manufactured religious nationalism’, the journey revived memories of non-violent, self-suffering pedagogy of Gandhiji. Contesting the ideology of colonialism Gandhi pursued satyagraha- holding onto truth to the point of death; today we take forward the unfinished agenda of our freedom struggle, namely to contest ‘fundamentalism’.

GC 36 speaks of collaboration and networking. Supporting ‘Karwan-e-mohabbat’ meant a unique kind of collaboration and a new type of networking with people by visiting the homes of victims, a new path for reconciliation. The voice of Harsh Mander is firm and clear. “As lynching threatens to grow into a national epidemic, Indian Muslims are learning to endure an intense sense of foreboding – a lurking, unnamed, unspoken fear. In tribal regions, Christian people feel a mounting dread. Dalits, who have so long lived with everyday violence and humiliation, are fearful of attacks for pursuing their caste vocation of skinning cows. How culpable are we when our brothers and sisters are burned and lynched and we stand by? We need to interrogate the reasons for our silences, for our failures to speak out, and to intervene, when murderous hate is unleashed on innocent lives. We need our conscience to ache. We need it to be burdened intolerably.” Thank you Harsh Mander for this prophetic stance.

George Pattery, SJ

The author is the former Provincial of Calcutta Province and former President of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia (POSA).