WHO IS THE LEOPARD?

Pic.: Vimal Tulsiani

Yesterday, I had written a very impressive piece on our P.M., Mr. Narendra Modi.

I don’t like the hardcore party-politics, nor do I like the fanatic fervor with which most of us worship our leaders blindly. And, above all, I refuse to dig deep, read between the lines and study the motive behind our leaders’ actions, when I feel they are taken in good faith and with good intentions...

If I do not like Mr. Modi’s party or its ideology, that shouldn't prevent me from admiring Mr. Modi for his great, bold gestures as our Prime Minister...


I said, ‘our’ Prime Minister.

Now, read that again. No matter how much I argue on it or deny it, the fact does remain this way: Mr. Modi is ‘my’ P.M., too, whether I have voted for him or against him. Yes, as Barack Obama famously said in his inaugural speech, “Remember, I am elected to be the President of those who oppose me, too!”

So, what is good is good; what is bold is bold. If Mr. Modi has been clearly demonstrating the characteristics of a great leader and visionary, if he is able to touch the chord in our hearts, then, I should be a blind man to argue that what I am seeing is false...  I should be a dumb idiot to argue that what I am hearing from his mouth is false... and, above all, I should be a fool to believe someone who wants me to judge Mr. Modi by what happened in the past...

In the past, many things have happened, and will happen... Yes, in your life, in my life and in our leaders’ lives, too...

If past was the yardstick to love and accept people, this world would have been a living hell... I first learnt this in my Sunday school. I still remember my sweet Sunday-teacher telling us the story of those hardcore Pharisees dragging a woman to Jesus, by her hair, holding stones in their hands. They wanted to trap Jesus, somehow. “The old law tells us that a sinful woman like this one (a prostitute) should be stoned to death; what would you tell us – should we stone her, or should we leave her?”

Jesus knew why they were asking him that question. He said nothing. Instead, he took a few steps forward, bent down and wrote on the sand this: ‘The one amongst you, who has not sinned, let him cast the first stone!”

One by one, the stones fell off the hands and one by one, the hardcore left the site...

“Where are those who dragged you here, woman?” asked Jesus.

The woman – Mary Magdalene – fell on the Great Healer’s feet and cried out her sins...

“Get up woman,” Jesus lifted her, “go and sin no more!”

What I still remember is this: our Sunday teacher knew we were too small to understand what a ‘prostitute’ did. So, she had told us ‘the woman who had committed big sins’!

Mary Magdalene went on to become a very devout follower of Jesus Christ. She was there next to mother Mary when Jesus took his last breath on the cross... She was there at Jesus’ tomb on the Easter dawn, before anyone else was!

Now, I have many around me – some of them are Christians – they want me to buy their story, which, of course, is not there in the Bible on any page – that, Jesus had a relationship with this woman!

I smile and tell them, “My friends, what do you want to prove from this tale – that Jesus was a bad man... cunning and criminal, as Pharisees accused Him to be?

If you want me to reject a person for his past deeds, I won’t... when the person is not glorifying or justifying his past, now... But, when you do that – dig up the gory past - over and over again, you do more harm to the society by keeping the wounds alive... by pouring more poison in our hearts...

For God’s sake, see what is good in a man, now... what he stands for, now... and choose to close your eyes to the dark chapter...

If you still argue, “The leopard doesn't change his spots,” I have only this to ask -

“Who is the leopard?”

GERALD D’CUNHA