Author: Sandhya Jain
Publication: Organiser
Date: January 13, 2008
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=219&page=7
Orissa alone received Rs. 128.95 crores of
foreign funds for the activities of 1005 mainly missionary organisations there
in the year 2005, according to Home Ministry figures. Mr. Graham Staines and
his wife Gladys were among these missionaries whose dubious activities in
the state were funded by foreign governments to serve a larger agenda.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh owes the nation
an apology for pandering to foreign Christian minorities to the extent of
debasing India's sovereignty and national pride. In an act of shameful supplication
before Mrs. Gladys Staines, widow of Australian missionary Graham Staines,
who mercifully terminated her unwelcome presence in this country some years
ago, Dr Singh said: "Please be assured that we will not tolerate any
efforts aimed at disturbing the communal harmony or secular fabric of our
country."
No doubt encouraged by the continued domination
of the Italian-born Sonia Gandhi over the UPA government, Ms. Staines had
written to the Prime Minister about the recent violence in Orissa's Kandhamal
district. In response, Dr Singh promised the Centre would take all measures
necessary to "safeguard the fundamental rights and liberties of all sections
of our society and protect their religious freedom as enshrined in the constitution."
It is simply atrocious that the Prime Minister
should elevate the widow of an alien missionary to the position of an extra-constitutional
supremo, and discuss domestic affairs with her, and even make assurances on
the internal affairs of the country. It may be pertinent to recall that Graham
Staines was burnt alive while sleeping in his jeep in Keonjhar district on
January 23, 1999, by Vanvasis agitated over his conversion activities in the
region. While the death of his two minor sons made the episode very tragic,
the motivated outrage over the incident has silenced criticism of his methods
and motivations for living in India. His widows' unwelcome missive has in
that respect opened old wounds.
Instead of promising Ms. Staines that the
Centre would urgently restore normalcy in the region (i.e., make it conducive
for evangelism again), the Prime Minister should have ordered a Niyogi Commission
type of investigation into Vanvasi animosity against evangelists who insult
their gods and traditions, and seek to annihilate their cultures. The Centre
should also expose the new and aggressive political interventions being made
by the church to steal the benefits of Hindu SCs and STs for converts, and
thus further exploit the misled converts.
Only the naïve will believe that the
dramatic 8-km trek undertaken by Kerala Chief Minister VS Achyutanandan to
the Sabarimalai shrine was driven by concern for the comfort of pilgrims.
It is more likely a political response to the church's recent political hostility
to his party, and a signal to the Hindu community that he will rely upon it
for survival. This phenomenon, which I would call the Hinduisation of Indian
secularism, has begun to creep into the polity and is a positive development.
The days when political parties could gainfully brow-beat the Hindus are truly
behind us.
To return to Orissa, it bears emphasising
that the violence in Kandhamal district which took several lives, was triggered
off by a planned Christian attack upon 83-year-old Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati,
who was on his way to perform a yajna at Brahmanigaon, a Christian dominated
village, 150 km from district headquarters of Phulbani. Later, a 500-strong
mob burnt Hindu houses and opened fire at the police station.
According to the Centre for Policy Studies,
Chennai, Kandhamal and Bauddh districts were carved out of Phulbani in the
last decade. There were 75,800 Christians (8.8 per cent of the population)
in the composite Phulbani district in 1991, which rose to 118,200 (11.6 per
cent) in 2001. Kandhamal was carved in a manner that it encompassed almost
all Christians of the old composite district. Thus, while Kandhamal has 118,000
Christians (18.2 per cent of its population), Bauddh district has only 239-odd
Christians.
According to the 2001 Census, Scheduled Tribes
comprise 52 per cent of the population of Kandhamal and Scheduled Castes about
19 per cent. More than 60 per cent of the Christians hail from the Pana community,
which is SC, and speak the Kui language of the local Kui Vanvasis. As 'Dalit
Christians' are not entitled to SC reservations, the church organisations
are demanding ST status for the Pana Christians. This is because the Indian
Constitution failed to properly define Scheduled Tribes and the critical issue
whether converts to Christianity could be classified as STs. Large-scale conversions
in the north-east decided the issue by default in favour of converts.
Understandably, the Vanvasi population of
Kandhamal resents the demand by Pana Christians for ST status. Shri Padmanabh
Behera, who resigned from the Naveen Patnaik government over this issue, is
a Pana. The state government's commissioner-cum-secretary of the ST and SC
Development Department, Shri Taradatt, said that it is not possible to include
all Kui language speakers as Scheduled Tribes.
Orissa alone received Rs. 128.95 crores of
foreign funds for the activities of 1005 mainly missionary organisations there
in the year 2005, according to Home Ministry figures. Mr. Graham Staines and
his wife Gladys were among these missionaries whose dubious activities in
the state were funded by foreign governments to serve a larger agenda.
India needs a blanket ban on conversions to
Abrahamic faiths, especially as these are invariably funded by foreign governments.
This is borne out by the fact that historically, when Arab traders settled
on the coast of Gujarat they did not indulge in proselytisation; nor did Syrian
Christians in the South. It is when their co-religionists arrived as conquerors
and gave the call to the embedded locals that communal disharmony became a
Hindu experience.
Even more urgently, India needs to correct
the error of granting reservations to converts in any category reserved for
Hindus to overcome historical social stigmas or backwardness. This applies
to ST quotas for Christians and OBC quotas for Muslims. The well-funded minority
evangelists must either fulfil the promises of social and economic elevation
made at the time of making converts or let the converted return to their natal
faiths. As neither Islam nor Christianity recognises Vanvasi identities of
converts in their respective theologies, they must abjure reservations on
grounds of erased identities.
