EASTERN EYE EXCLUSIVE
By Kalpesh Solanki and Sailesh Ram
TONY BLAIR’S recent trip to India earlier this month has left him invigorated and more certain of the work he is doing through his charity, the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.
It has also allowed him to reflect on the complex and changing nature of world power with Britain’s former colony India, and China, beginning to emerge in the 21st century as global superpowers.
He sees his foundation, set up in 2008, as helping people understand and better negotiate some of the changes connected to this – and continue to promote harmony and dialogue between different faiths across the globe.
For Blair, religion is positive and a force which has the capacity to do an enormous amount of good. But the philanthropic message of all religions can become mired in naked politics and the tyranny of majorities, he fears.
He believes India, perhaps, more than any other nation on earth, has done well to let different religions live in relative harmony and he feels this has lessons for the West and the rest of the world.
“It’s convinced me that India should be a major part of the Foundation’s work,” said Blair when EE spoke to him in his central London office on Monday (October 17).
“It (religion) is the issue of our time and the interesting thing is – there’s just no doubt it – if we don’t create the circumstances where different faiths and cultures can live together, we’re going to find that they don’t.”
He said recent events, especially in the Middle East with the Arab Spring, have convinced him that religious understanding is vital if modern societies are to negotiate the challenges facing them.
“Three or four years ago, it was difficult to convince people. They kept asking, ‘why are you doing this about faith?’ Now I don’t have any difficulty at all anywhere (explaining the relevance of the Faith Foundation).”
He believes that India, with its deeply spiritual character, shows a way forward that other nations, especially those coming to democracy in the Middle East and North Africa, would do well to study and understand.
“What India does is at one level secular, but that doesn’t mean to say that society, at another level, isn’t deeply spiritual.
“I think that is the right balance. It’s not that people have the right to force their religion on others, or that the laws of the land are made in a religious way, but it is the case that society as a whole is proud of its spirituality, its influence on society, and people at their best recognise that it can be achieved by different paths of spirituality.
“I think India is also going to be very important in the development of religion from now on.”
He felt that people with religious faith can be divided into two camps – exclusivist and those who are inclusive.
“The exclusivists – for them, your religion is your identity, in opposition to others.
“The other is inclusive and recognises that while even though you may be profoundly attached to your religion, you can understand why someone else has taken the path they have.
“That’s the difference the world over and you find this (understanding) in every religion.”
Blair believes faith has an important part to play in the modern world and his Foundation is part of the dialogue of change, progress and democracy. “The purpose of my Foundation is not merely to say that there should be good relations between the faiths but to promote faith as part of progress and not simply as a historical relic,” he argued.
To a much greater degree than many other countries, India has shown how it was possible to negotiate change, progress and democracy without necessarily losing one’s religious convictions, he suggested.
“It (India) has shown how it is possible for people of different faiths to live together,” he said, referring to the fact that India’s current Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is a Sikh.
“It is possible to achieve the highest office of the land, even though you are not from the majority faith…”
The implication was clear, even if not directly articulated – India is an example to other countries.
In October, Blair travelled to India to meet leaders of different faiths and discuss how his Foundation could develop as well as assist with charity endeavours in the country. The experience left him with new insights into how the world’s largest democracy manages its immense diversity.
“India, at its best, has always represented a multicultural, multi-faith society. It has over 100 million Muslims and I was amazed when I met the Baha’i representative – she told me there were 2.5 million Bahai’s (in India). From a faith perspective, you’ve probably got no more interesting country in the world.”
Speaking to EE while he was in India, Blair said he hoped to be able to set up a degree course in world faiths in India, as the Foundation has been able to do at Yale in the US as well as nine universities worldwide.
He explained: “We don’t have an Indian university. What we do is run a course in addition to a normal degree course – we run a course on faith and globalisation and that deals with all the major issues to do with religion in the world – religion and conflict, religion and social democracy, for example.”
Among the religious leaders he met there was Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati (Pujya Muniji), who heads the Parmath Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh. Blair appeared to have been hugely impressed by Pujya Muniji, who earlier this year spoke to youth fellows from Blair’s Faith Foundation on a trip to London.
“He is just such a great guy. He’s got a beautiful spirit about him and yet he is also smart and disciplined. He gave me a soundbite – there are not many people who can give me a soundbite after all my time in politics, but he gave me one!
“When we called upon everyone to try and make their contributions brief (at the close of an interfaith seminar), Pujya Muniji said, ‘What I have learnt is that time management is tongue management.’ I love that.”
x Full video interview on www.gg2.net
