Author: François Gautier
Publication: FrancoisGautier.com
Date:
URL: http://www.francoisgautier.com/Written%20Material/Christian%20India.doc
I am a westerner and a born Christian. I was
mainly brought up in catholic schools, my uncle, Father Guy Gautier, a gem
of a man, was the parish head of the beautiful Saint Jean de Montmartre church
in Paris ; my father, Jacques Gautier, a famous artist in France, and a truly
good person if there ever was one, was a fervent catholic all his life, went
to church nearly every day and lived by his Christian values. There are certain
concepts in Christianity I am proud of : charity for others, the equality
of system in many western countries, Christ's message of love and compassion….
Yet, I am a little uneasy when I see how much
Christianity is taking over India under the reign of Sonia Gandhi : according
to a 2001 census, there are about 2.34 million Christians in India ; not even
2,5% of the nation, a negligible amount. Yet there are today five Christian
chief ministers in Nagaland, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
One should add that the majority of politicians in Sonia Gandhi's closed circle
are either Christians or Muslims. She seems to have no confidence in Hindus.Ambika
Soni, a Christian, is General Secretary of the Congress and a very powerful
person, with close access to Sonia Gandhi. Oscar Fernandes is Union Programme
Implementation Minister. Margaret Alwa is the eminence grise of Maharasthra.
Karnataka is virtually controlled by AK Anthony, whose secretaries are all
from the Southern Christian association. Valson Thampu, a Hindu hater, is
Chairman NCERT curriculum Review Committee, John Dayal, another known Hindu
baiter, has been named by Sonia Gandhi in the National Integration Council
; and Kancha Ilaya, who hates Hindus, is being allowed by the Indian Government
to lobby with the UN and US Congress so that caste discrimination in India
is taken-up by these bodies.
I have nothing personnally against Sonia Gandhi,
in fact she probably is a good person to win the alliegance of so many and
certainly a loving mother . I share with her a love for India, like her I
have lived in this country for over 30 years and like her I have married an
Indian. But nevertheless, since she is at the top, Christian conversions in
India seem to have gone in overdrive. More than 4,000 foreign Christian missionaries
are involved in conversion activities across different states. In Tripura,
there were no Christians at independence, there are 120.000 today, a 90% increase
since 1991. The figures are even more striking in Arunachal Pradesh, where
there were only 1710 Christians in 1961, but 1,2 million today, as well as
780 churches! In Andhra Pradesh, churches are coming-up every day in far flung
villages and there was even an attempt to set-up one near Tirupati. Many of
the North-East separatist movements, such as the Mizo or the Bodos, are not
only Christian dominated, but also sometimes function with the covert backing
of the missionaries. In Kerala, particularly in the poor coastal districts,
you find "miracle boxes" put in local churches: the gullible villager
writes out a paper mentionning his wish: a fising boat, a loan for a pukka
house, fees for the son's schooling… And lo, a few weeks later, the miracle
happens ! And of course the whole family converts, making others in the village
follow suit. During the Tsunami, entire dalit villages in Tamil Nadu were
converted to Christianity with the lure of money.
It is true that there have been a few backlashes
against missionnaries and nuns, particularly the gruesome muder of Staines
and his two sons. But Belgium historian Konenraad Elst laments that "
When over a thousand Hindus are killed and a quarter million Hindus ethnically
cleansed in Kashmir, the world media doesn't even notice, but watch the worldwide
hue and cry when a few local riots take place and a few missionaries are killed
by unidentified tribal miscreants. Christian Naga terrorists have been killing
non-Christians for decades on end, and this has never been an issue with the
world media, except to bewail the "oppression" of the Nagas by "Hindu
India" ". More than 20,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency
in Assam and Manipur in the past two decades. As recently as last week, four
paramilitary Assam Rifles soldiers were killed in an ambush yesterday by the
outlawed United National Liberation Front (UNLF).
The other day I was at the Madras Medical
center, the foremost heart hospital in Madras. Right when you enter the lobby,
you find a chapel, inviting everybody to pray, there are pictures and quotations
of Christ everywhere and a priest visits all the patients, without being invited
at all. Educational institutes and orphanages run by Christian organisations
have become big business in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and other states. In
Pondichery, where I am often, schools run by Adventists force their pupils,
mostly Hindus, to say Christian prayers every day and attend mass. They are
constantly fed anti Hindu slogans and biases under different forms, whether
it is in history books, or discourses by priests during religious classes.
Even in the elite schools or colleges, such as Saint Stephen in Delhi, Saint
Xavier in Calcutta or Loyola college in Madras, where no direct proletization
is attempted, Hindu pupils are subtly encouraged towards skepticism of their
own religion, and admiration of whatever is Western. One should also say that
it's a one way traffic : remember the furor when MM Joshi wanted the Saraswati
hymn to be sung at a Chief Ministers' meet on education ? And imagine the
uproar in secular India if portions of the Bhagavad Gita, this Bible for all
humanity, were read at the beginning of the day in public schools ?
Sonia Gandhi said during the last National
Integration Council meeting : " We are committed to ideological battle
against communal forces which seek to destroy our diversity and polarise us.
Certain parties promote polarisation and confrontation. And there are certain
regimes in India which promote communalism ". But is not actually the
Congress under Mrs Gandhi, which is promoting communalism, by insidiously
installing Christians and Muslims (and Marxists) everywhere, propping up Christian
states, allowing a free hand too missionnaries and pressing for reservations
for Christian Dalits and Muslims, as recently done in AP, in a nation of 850
million Hindus ?
In my country, France, a Christian majority
nation , it would be unthinkable to have Hindus - or even Indian born French
for that matter - in so many positions of power. Impossible also to find a
non-elected, non French, non-Christian person being the absolute ruler of
the country behind the scene as Sonia Gandhi is in India. Indians like to
say that the greatness of India is that it accepts a foreigner and a Christian
like Sonia Gandhi. But is'nt it rather a weakness, and an aberration ? Can't
we find a worthy leader amongst one billion Indians ? This is an India where
you see today Swami Avimukteshwarananda Saraswati of Dwarka Peeth, made to
disembark from an Indian Airlines flight for carrying his holy dand, a thin
bamboo stick which is a symbol of their spiritual designation, inside the
aircraft cabin.
Are we heading then towards a Christian India
under Sonia Gandhi's helm? It would be a tremendous loss not only to India,
but also to the world. For in India, you find the only living spirituality
left on this planet.
