1/5
India
...
Swami
Vivekanand recounted at Parliament of Religions in Chicago -
“I
remember, as a boy, hearing a Christian missionary preach to a crowd
in India. Among other sweet things he was telling them was that if he
gave a blow to their idol with his stick, what could it do?
One of the
hearers sharply answered, “If I abuse your God, what can He do?”
“You would
be punished,” said the preacher, “when you die.”
“So my
idol will punish you when you die,” retorted the Hindu.”
It is funny
that God would require Christian missionaries to go on expeditions
trying to civilise lands that have birthed and sustained many major,
more complex religions than Christianity. Missionaries love poor as
much as they love thanksgiving turkeys. At present, tribals are
simmering. We see the signs in Pathalgadis and Palghars. One of the
major reason behind this simmer is the rise in the church led Marxist
militancy. It is a venom slipped with the ORS but God
watches everybody.
God knows how missionaries function as arms of the Christian
colonialism, mostly powered by money, racism and poverty led
vulnerabilities. God knows how godmen are fickle, turning the divine
lordly compassion into senseless hate upon facing simple logical
fallacies.
This blog is
divided in five parts, each
detailing church behaviour in different geographies with
different sets of natives. Somehow
they all follow similar patterns.
Readers can follow this
sequence -
(1/5)
India
(2/5)
Liberation Theology
(3/5)
South America
(4/5)
North America
(5/5)
Africa & Japan
In my
opinion, missionaries should research the concepts of Anubhuti,
Avatar, Ashram, Moksha and
Samadhi
before
they slander Hinduism.
The word ashram
itself comes from
the Sanskrit root Srama,
which means ‘making an effort towards liberation’. It also means
total pursuit, full dedication, ‘tireless striving stretching its
arms towards perfection’. It is only when they have understood
these concepts well, that they can
begin to see the fallacy of their missions.
God can hear
missionaries calling non-coreligionists ‘uncivilised’ and kill
worthy, for a simple refusal to accept supremacy. While polytheistic
religions find abandoning of rituals alarming, monotheists are
alarmed by something as puny as ego. But there is not much one can do
about zealots, they have the temerity to call other people 'savages'
after flooding them with opium in China, enslaving them in Africa and
genociding them in Bengal. Zealot and militant missionaries can not
be reasoned with. Any attempt to parley is a sheer waste of time. I
feel the Japanese were correct in dealing with missionaries. By the
end of this series, there is a tiny possibility the reader may agree
with me.
On 16th
April, three people were lynched by a tribal mob in Gadchinchli
village of Dahanu taluka in Palghar district, Maharashtra. The murder
is on tape, and the policemen look visibly scared. Three days before
this incident, a couple of on-duty doctors were attacked and held
hostage in a nearby hamlet, Kasa. Upon research, I found a storm
brewing. Bharat is a miracle democracy. It remains the only instance
of a smooth transfer of powers between two democracies, from an
unwritten constitution to a written one. Bharat's colonial
experience, however, is living proof of how democratic systems based
on colonial laws are doomed to sow seeds of discontents. For example,
Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRI), formalized in 1992 by the 73rd
amendment to the Indian Constitution was based on the recommendations
of the LM Singhvi Committee (1986). The idea was to establish village
republics. Such mini-republics would have meant greater devolution of
governmental powers but they would have also lead to further
accretion of power in hands of the few, the privilege loop would have
kept turning. Privilege in rural India is a network of village heads
who rule by custom or consent. Today, the Gram Sabhas are slipping
under the influence of militant Marxist, NGO or theological groups.
The unfettered power to profess under Article 25 of our Constitution
is an abuse of constitutional guarantees. Radical Marxist
missionaries have long left the realm of God to tread on
revolutionary roads. In ecclesiastical parley, it is called
'Liberation Theology'. The current Pope is a promoter of this
shiny new radical concept.
Western
colonial concepts don’t fit India well. The
whole paranoia around Secularism is hyped. Frankly, crusaders and
conquistadors need not teach secularism to a civilisation that has
been polytheistic all along. It is only the Monotheists who require
such childish underlined statements. Such attacks have come since
time immemorial. Hindus tolerated it all out of decency. A global
pandemic is testing this decency as I write this blog. Fortunately,
lands east of the Radcliffe Line chose to stay loyal to ancestors. As
far back as in 1954, MA Ayyangar correctly identified that “cultural
aggression is more disastrous than armed aggression." In July
1956, C. Rajagopalachari was speaking out against proselytisation.
Prime Minister JL Nehru wrote to the president of the Christian
Council in India, "The question of foreign missionaries in India
is not considered by us for Christianity but for foreigners coming to
India.”
The Niyogi
Committee Report had put it succinctly, "Evangelisation in India
appeared to be part of a uniform world policy to revive Christendom,
to re-establish Western supremacy and was not prompted by spiritual
motives. The objective was to disrupt the solidarity of the
non-Christian societies, with danger to the security of the State.
Enormous sums of foreign money flow into the country, and it is out
of such funds that the Lutherans and other proselytising agencies
were able to secure nearly four thousand converts. Missions are in
some places used to serve extra-religious ends. As conversion muddles
the convert’s sense of solidarity with his society there is a
danger of his loyalty to his country being undermined. Vile
propaganda against the religion of the majority is being
systematically and deliberately carried out to create an apprehension
of breach of public peace. There has been an appreciable increase in
the American personnel of missionary organisations in India. This
increase is due to the deliberate policy of the International
Missionary Council to (exploit) opportunities opened in newly
independent countries by mass evangelism through the press radio and
television."
Q - How
does the Marxist-Church-NGO nexus work?
We
take recent cases of two
distinctively different tribal regions situated at two diametrically
different directions in Bharat.
(1.) Dahanu
taluka, Palghar, Maharashtra: The
Kashtakari
Sanghatana
is a Liberation
Theological Missionary in the shape of an NGO, founded by a Marxist
zealot Peter D'Mello and his two associates named Nicholas Cordazo
and Sushila D'Souza in the tribal belt of Dahanu region of district
Thane, Maharashtra. The Liberation Theology activists blended the
catholic techniques with Marxist economic philosophy to give a new
direction for their movement in favour of the poor, also they believe
in the second coming of Jesus.
In early 1976, Peter D'Mello
organised a ten-day youth festival of tribal youths at Ashagad in
Dahanu taluka 'to make them conscious of their rights and
responsibilities and prepare them for organising struggles against
their exploitation.' He also wanted to promote literacy and adult
education on the lines advocated by Paulo Faire, a Marxist
revolutionary educationalist from Brazil. Paulo Friere was a radical
catholic leader who believed that literacy has a potential role in
empowering the marginalised groups to engage in political action
aimed at resisting the inequalities in society. He preached a
philosophy that taught the oppressed classes the political and
economic contradictions in the society which created the existing
exploitative system and empowered them to challenge and fight against
the oppressive system.
Kashtakari Sangathan
chose Dahanu Taluka as a tactical decision just like Naxalbari
district was chosen in 1967. Reasons were twofold -
- The dominant tribal
group are Warlis who constitute about 60% of the tribal population
in the area. Other tribal groups present in the area are Katkaris,
Konkanas, Mahadeo Kolis, Vanjaris, Dhodis and Dubalis. The terrain
is mostly plain with vast forest areas in the interior region,
offering protection just like Naxalbari's proximity to Jungle
stretches of Darjeeling.
- The Dahanu-Jawhar tribal belt in the district Thane has been a communist stronghold since 1945 because of the good work done first by communist leader Shamrao Parulekar and later by his wife Smt. Godavari Parulekar after his untimely death. In 1964 when the communist party split into CPI and CPM, Godavari Parulekar along with her supporters sided with the CPM and since then the area remains a citadel of the CPM.
The Sanghatan's missionary
zeal was incited by the decision of the Second Vatican Council
(1962-1965) which allowed missionaries to get involved in radical
movements by organising rural poor, and which had led to the
emergence of Christian action groups in South American Countries. The
Kashtakari Sangathan has grown increasingly intolerant since its
inception. The Sanghatana began maintaining that Adivasis had a
separate ethnic identity with their separate gods, religious customs,
etc. and they needed to maintain the same, the Sanghatana cautioned
them against getting misguided by Hinduism. It began holding kangaroo
courts to deliver instant justice to Adivasis who were victims of
cheating by shopkeepers, money lenders, etc. The accused were not
only fined by such courts but also forced to apologise to the
victims.
Quick justice delivered a
positive impact on the shopkeepers' attitude to the Adivasis and
helped the Sanghatana in expanding its influence, coming to a
confrontation with CPM. In 1980 Lok Sabha elections, CPM and
Sanghatana workers agreed to a truce. It was a quid pro quo
transaction which turned heavily in favour of Kashtakari Sanghatana.
It wanted to befriend the CPM. For CPM, it was just an opportunistic
alliance to get some additional votes, For Kashtakari Sanghatana, it
was an opportunity to get recognition and acceptability among local
Adivasis.
Peter D'Mello adopted a
Hindu name, Pradip Prabhu. He started attacking Hindus in the area.
The Kashtakari Sanghatan started attacking members of the Mahanubhav
Panth or the Malkaris, a very conservative Vaishnav sect. About 1500
Adivasi families in some of the villages in Dahanu taluka located
near Maharashtra-Gujarat border are followers of this sect. They are
called Malkaris because of the tulsi bead necklace (Vaishnav mala)
they wear. The followers of this sect are strictly vegetarian and
don't consume alcohol. They don't even take food or water from the
households of non-vegetarians.
There had been multiple
attacks on Malkaris by Peter D'Mello since 1998. He claims the
Sangathan is opposing the Malkaris have insulted ancient tribal Gods
and cultural traditions by adopting new Gods. In reality, the
animosity is a result of the fact that Malkharis cannot easily be
converted to Christianity.
Somebody should have long
stopped Peter D'Mello the militant Marxist Liberation Theologian
missionary and asked who gave him the right to attack a group
violently on behalf of another. His monopoly of violence in Dahanu
Taluka and Kashtakari Sanghathan's authority to hold people's court
could not have possibly claimed divinity in a secular democracy.
Peter D'Mello's Kastakari
Sangathan joined hands with another missionary, Thomas Kocheri, a
Liberation Theology evangelist to scuttle of Vadhavan Port project in
Thane district. CPI (Maoist), CPI-ML (Kanu Sanyal), CPI-ML
(Janashakti) and CPI-ML (New Democracy) have already accepted
liberation theology as an international Marxist movement and have
absorbed many of the Liberation Theology activists as their cadres.
All these left extremist outfits are also linked with CPM Maoist
group of Nepal. Peter D'Mello, a missionary has emerged as an
ideologue of the Naxalite movement in the country. For instance, his
campaign demanding 'Forest Panchayat' and Self Rule for tribal areas
in the country with all administrative powers for forest dwellers
have now been adopted by CPI (Maoist) as their main goal.
(2.) North-East
India: The
Church in Manipur is hardly 70 years old. The first missionaries were
Italian missionaries of the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB). When the
Indian government asked foreigners to quit, missionaries from south
India, particularly from Kerala state, came and established the
Church. The Catholic Church arrived in Manipur 40 years later and
then came the Protestants who are largely Southern American Baptists
and Presbyterians who was Liberation Theologians. Against any attack
on Christian interest, they are all united but relations turn sour
when it comes to evangelization or what is called sheep-stealing. The
density of churches in North-East has led Manipur to evolve a system
of village-based Churches.
The Catholic Church cannot
enter where there is already a Protestant Church, it disturbs
ecumenical relations. The story of the Exodus experience in The
mission of Miriam and the midwives (Puah and Shiphrah) in Exodus
1:15-21 is touted throughout North-East as an example of God’s
mission for the deliverance of the weaker sections of people from the
physical struggle in society. Naga churches expanded their mission
involvement to socio-economic reforms.
Two factors influenced the
church to take this step -
- It was one of the
after-effects of the revival movement. The ‘revived’ churches
began to think of reforming society.
- Development of tribal theology was inspired by the global Liberation Theology movement and gave ‘tremendous emphasis to liberate all kinds of oppression.
Today, there are nearly 10
lakh Christians, loyal to the 18 churches of North-East India. The
entire population of North-East is 24 lakhs. Church leaders claim
their numbers are increasing every year. The major concentrations are
among the Khasi and Garo tribes of Meghalaya, the various ethnic
groups in Nagaland and the Mizos of Mizoram. The Baptist Church
claims the largest denomination in the northeast. It is concentrated
in Nagaland and parts of Assam and Meghalaya. The Presbyterians are
strong in Mizoram and among the Khasis of Meghalaya. The Catholic
Church came to the north-east region about 100 years ago. Today, the
Seven Sisters have 15 dioceses, and about 50% of them have native
bishops.
There are smaller, local
sects like the Church of God, which was formed at the beginning of
this century by a former member of the Khasi Presbyterian Church. It
has a membership of about 15,000 and emphasizes the need for moral
and spiritual change. Khasis are much affected by Liberation
Theology. Other denominations include the Unitarians, the All Saints
Church, which is affiliated with the Anglican Church, and the
Seventh-day Adventists.
In the 1960s, the Indian
Government threw foreign missionaries out of North-East because they
were troubling local politics and the promoting growth of separatist
movements. Leftists put pressure on the Government by alleging that
mission workers had links with Western intelligence agencies.
Anthropologists and administrators criticized the church among the
hill tribes of the northeast, alleging that missionaries had
disrupted traditions and brought alcoholism, corruption and debt to
the region. Unlike other parts of Bharat, Christians are a religious
majority in the states of Meghalaya and Nagaland and the territory of
Mizoram. Economic power is retained by Hindu traders which leads to
frequent xenophobic hostilities.
Q - How
powerful is this nexus exactly?
- Peter D'Mello used to deliver lectures on Tribals and their problems at L.B.S. National Academy of Administration for IAS probationers as a guest lecturer since the early 1980s. He has always been very close to all Directors and most of the faculty members of Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) since last three decades as also with many senior IAS officers and other bureaucrats in the country.
- On July 26, the Assam Christian Forum, convened an emergency meeting to express anxiety over the haste shown in the 'imposition of an unstudied and unreflected education policy on the people of India'. "Not a single word about the significant contributions of Christian missionaries in providing and making quality education accessible to the maximum number of people has been mentioned in the entire voluminous draft New Education Policy (NEP) 2019. The development has shocked the entire Christian community. We, in the Northeast, have reasons enough to suspect that there is an inherent design in the NEP to spell doom the contributions of missionaries towards education”, the spokesperson of Assam Christian Forum rued to the press.
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