HVK Archives: Conversion row: US should not interfere
Conversion row: US should not interfere - The Free Press Journal
M. V. Kamath
()
January 28, 1999
Title: Conversion row: US should not interfere
Author: M. V. Kamath
Publication: The Free Press Journal
Date: January 28, 1999
Has anyone - and 'anyone' includes the 'secularists' among Hindus
as well, ever tried to understand the Hindu psyche? Or is it
considered a wholly unnecessary exercise? Consider this: Unlike
Christian missionaries, Hindus have never been aggressive. Hindu
missionaries have not gone to Portugal or Spain or Italy, sword
in hand, to convert the pagans. Hindu missionaries don't have
blood on their hands as have Christian missionaries from Europe.
True, the earliest Christian missionary like St. Thomas did come
to India and made some converts. But it is palpably wrong to say
that Christian missionaries have been working at conversion in
India for two thousand years. That is simply not true. Yes,
Portuguese Jesuits did come to India in the sixteenth century and
for some decades wreaked untold havoc among the Hindus of Goa.
But it took another three centuries before Christian missionaries
from Britain and with them Christian missionaries from Germany
and Switzerland set foot on Indian soil.
The British missionaries may have spread the Good Word; but their
primary purpose was imperialistic. It was to provide the
underpinnings to British sovereignty over India. Saving Indian
souls was of secondary consideration. That is the simple truth.
The manner in which Britishers riled against Hinduism and against
Hindu culture is all on record. It does not need to be repeated
here.
The bare truth is that the British were busily engaged in
despoliation of Indian culture to the best of their abilities.
During the entire British regime of exploitations, the Christians
may have been in a numerical minority but they had the political
majority.
They were in power and no amount of whining can change that fact.
True, the British established schools and colleges and Christian
missionaries took a leaf from their political masters' book. The
idea, again, was to manufacture a breed of Indians British in
every way to serve as minions under the alien Raj, and not to
save Indian souls.
The impression that our contemporary secularists are seeking to
create is that but for missionary effort India would have largely
remained illiterate. That is so much stuff and nonsense. There
were schools all over India to cater to various administrations.
The cultural ethos was such that a limited number of students
availed themselves of education, but they were by no means
limited to Brahmins.
The entire Mughal regime was run by kayasthas who were the babus
of their time. We should indeed be grateful to many Jesuit
schools and colleges but let it not be forgotten that there were
several times their numbers run by Hindu educational bodies - a
fact that tends to be forgotten. It should bring tears to the
eyes of Gopala Krishna Gokhale and several of his kind in their
heaven. If Christians have set up schools and colleges, let it
not be forgotten that so have Hindus. It was an orthodox Hindu,
Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, who set tip the Hindu University in
Banaras.
Again to say that only Christians have been working for the poor
and the needy is telling half the truth. Down the centuries
Hindu bodies have established support to the poor in various ways
long before Europeans, like the Central Asian Muslims before
them, came to India. Dharmashalas and temples have fed literally
millions, free of cost, as part of Hindu dharma. To say,
therefore, that Hindus don't care for the poor is a travesty of
truth.
Even today thousands of RSS sevaks and sevikas are giving the
best years of their lives in the service of the country.
According to a Fact Sheet provided by the RSS (Seva Disha 97)
there are as many as 22,866 sevakaryas serving in 579 districts
of India of whom 10 per cent are doing health work, 59 per cent
are engaged in education and 21 per cent in samajik vikas. Of
the total, 13,509 are women working in 30 prants. In addition
RSS can avail itself of the service of 38,218 part-time workers
and 42,348 volunteers.
In all, in just one year, as many as 49,12,789 people have
received support directly from various sevakaryas. Some 23 per
cent of sevakaryas work in rural areas, 42 per cent are vanavasis
and 35 per cent sevabastis. If that is not impressive, what else
is?
Who says -except our ignorant 'secularists'- that Hindus do not
care for their poor? And may it be said once and for all: the
reference here is only to the RSS.
There are literally hundreds of Hindu organizations working
quietly in towns and villages doing sterling work, asking for no
praise or recognition from our 'secularists'. They are our
forgotten humanitarians. When there are floods in the country,
it is the RSS volunteer who is the first to go to the help of the
people. When major tragedies strike anywhere, as in Latur
earthquake, it is the RSS volunteer - yes, the same fascist,
fundamentalist, communal worker - who is the first to appear on
the scene, wanting to help and asking nothing in return, not even
the soul of the distressed. When there was a ghastly train
accident in Faridabad, it was an army of 500 RSS swayamsevaks who
rushed to the scene, helped extract dead bodies from the wreck
and took care of the belongings of the hapless passengers.
It is hard to think of Congress volunteers doing the job.
And Christians bodies would probably point out that they are
numerically too few to do such organisation work at a moment's
notice. RSS workers have been at the scenes of disaster at far
too many places to bear mention.
But why are they angry now?
For some good reason. Right from 1,000 A. D and the first Muslim
invasion of India, Hindus have suffered at the hands of
proselytisers. First were Islamicists. Then came the British.
The Hindus kept quite, numerically strong, they were politically
in a minority. But deep inside unquenched fires have burnt.
Having long been under assault, they now want to take a hand in
the shaping of their own people's destinies. And can anyone
blame them? Let it be stated in clear terms: conversions are an
assault on the pervading cultural ethos which Hindus have always
resented. Conversions can have no place in a civilized society.
This is not a matter of freedom of speech or belief. Christians
have practised their faith in total freedom through the
centuries. It is not Christianity that is resented. What is
resented is conversion.
Conversion leads to conflict and become an issue of public order.
Truth is, the Judiciary has already made it clear that the right
to propagate one's religion doesn't imply a right to convert
another person.
In the landmark Rev Stainslaus vs State of Madhya Pradesh case in
1977, the Supreme Court ruled that there is no fundamental right
to convert another person to one's religion" and observed that
such a right would impinge on the freedom of conscience
guaranteed to all citizens of the country alike." In the
judgement the Court upheld the constitutionality of two State
Acts (passed by Madhya Pradesh and Orissa) which made conversions
by force, fraudulence or allurements an offence under the law".
Will Christian missionaries swear that they have never been
guilty of such malpractice?
And let it be remembered: the support to Indian missionaries
comes from abroad. Home Minister L K Advani was recently quoted
as saying that between October and December 1998, 70 per cent of
foreign funds privately donated went to missionaries.
This is an act of political subversion under the guise of
humanitarian work. It is no accident that the United States is
collating data on alleged attacks on Christians in India. And
who, one would like to know, instigated Indian Christians living
in America to demonstrate against the government of India in
front of the United Nations? The church?
According to a report of the Indian Express (7 Jan 1999) "the
sporadic but continuing attacks on Christians in parts of India
could invite censure and even sanctions under a new American law
which has recently come into effect". According to the report,
with the intent of "protecting religious freedom abroad", the US
Congress had last year passed a legislation enjoining the US
administration to set up an office for International Religious
Freedoms Abroad in the state Department's Human Rights Bureau.
The Express report said: India could have the dubious distinction
of being rapped in the very first report due in March... Already
the US Embassy in New Delhi is believed to be making a laundry
list of the incidents". The US Embassy and the US State
Department should be warned: they are interfering in the internal
affairs of India, something that cannot to tolerated. Under the
guise of protecting religious freedom, abroad, the United States
is seeking actively to interfere in the domestic affairs of
India. It should serve as a warning to Delhi. One hopes that
Christian leaders will understand that dangers of trying to hide
behind American laws to punish India. Doing that is playing with
fire.
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