Author: B.R. Haran
Publication: Organiser
Date: February 3, 2008
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=222&page=26
Introduction: The total fund sent to India
as per the official declaration is a whopping $336,218,421 dollars! The unofficial
and clandestine flow of funds is left to our imagination! A major chunk of
this money is spent on conversions, targeting mainly the gullible poor and
ignorant Hindus.
The arrival of East India Company and the
subsequent British regime have been the launch pad for foreign Christian missionaries
to land in India and establish themselves. They penetrated in to the far and
wide of the country in the guise of focusing on "Education & Health
Care" sectors to help the poor and downtrodden of the country. The Indian
leaders, who were fighting for the freedom lost focus on the penetration of
these missionaries. After the so-called Independence, the Indian leaders made
two biggest blunders, one, not getting rid of the British system of education
and scheme and two, prepared a Constitution based on the British version.
The Nehruvian Secularism took over from the British Imperialism for the detriment
of the country in general and majority community in particular, and for the
benefit of the minorities, who have been enjoying undue privileges through
blatant misuse of the Constitution and the consequent amendments brought by
the pseudo-secular governments.
The proselytisation, conversion and other
evangelical activities of the Christian missionaries have been subjects of
debate for a long time, but no concrete solution had been found. Right from
Vivekananda & Aurobindo to Gandhiji & Ambedkar, all our national leaders
have condemned religious conversions unequivocally and it is the bounden duty
of the minorities to respect and adhere to the views of those great leaders
if at all they feel they are Indians. They cannot take advantage of the 'tolerance'
shown by the majority community. If India that is Bharat is standing tall
proudly, out in the crowd, it is because of the "Sanatana Dharma",
which has been in practice for centuries and ages. Hinduism, apart from being
the most spiritual, is the only religion in the world, which is "secular"
in itself. That is why, the "Revealed Religions" were allowed to
establish here. Hinduism embraces other religions showing respect to them,
but unfortunately, it is not reciprocated by the others. Also, the 700 years
of Islamic oppression and 300 years of Christian oppression revealed the fact
that the Abrahamic religions are not at all secular or spiritual but purely
political in nature and that they are born to destroy other religions and
civilizations. But as the saying "Adharmic conspiracy may encircle Dharma,
but ultimately Dharma will prevail" goes, the Islamic & Christian
rulers were driven away from this "Punya Bhoomi" and after the so-called
Independence, this country was proclaimed, though wrongly, as a "secular
country" despite more than 90 per cent being Hindu majority, only for
the well being of the miniscule minorities. In fact, those minorities could
have continued to live happily and peacefully even if this country had been
proclaimed as a Hindu nation officially. The leaders at the time of Independence
were so magnanimous that they gave full freedom to the revealed religions
in the name of secularism.
The last sixty years of history shows that
the minorities have been taking undue advantage of the very same freedom and
the tolerance of the majority. While the Constitution permits only practicing
& propagating, the minorities indulge in converting minds and harvesting
souls with the help of the "aids" from outside and "abetment"
from inside, which is totally illegal and against the Constitution. The "Niyogi
Commission", which was constituted by the Madhya Pradesh government in
the fifties, has also confirmed the dubious methods adopted by the churches
and missionaries for harvesting souls and it has recommended for a "BAN"
on conversions. The then Prime Minister Jawahrlal Nehru, who always felt proud
of being called as an English man, failed to table the Niyogi Commission Report
in the parliament, for the sake of the so-called secularism, an action which
was obviously aimed at appeasing the Christian community. Despite Nehru's
mistake, the Congress government in MP went on to enact the anti-conversion
law!
The Constitution ensures "Freedom of
Religion" only to practice and propagate and certainly doesn't grant
the right to convert others. The concerned "Article-25", which ensures
freedom of religion, is subject to public order, morality and health. The
Supreme Court in its judgment interpreting Article 25 of the Constitution,
in the Stainislaus v. State of Madhya Pradesh (AIR 1977 SC 908) case, had
upheld the constitutional validity of a law (the Madhya Pradesh Dharma Swatantraya
Adhiniyam) passed by the Madhya Pradesh Government in 1968 and the Orissa
Freedom of Religion Act, 1967, since the issues involved were the same.
In a secular country with one particular community
being 85 per cent of the total population, the balance 15 per cent must coexist
by respecting the feelings and aspirations of the majority and without interfering
in the faith, culture & tradition of the majority. If it is violated and
if the violation goes beyond the level of decency & tolerance, then consequences
have to be faced. It is as simple as that, and that is what has happened in
Orissa from 24 th to 28th of December 2007. The state of Orissa has been notorious
for the illegal conversion activities perpetrated by the Christian missionaries,
particularly in the tribal belt. The unabated harvesting of souls for years
by the Churches with the help of foreign money power and the dubious muscle
& state power extended by the pseudo-secular parties for the sake of vote
banks, have gone beyond the tolerance of the majority community, which forced
the organisations like the RSS, the VHP and other individual religious leaders
to indulge in re-conversion activities. Eighty five years old Swami Lakshmannanda
Saraswathi has been prominent in this and he has been into this for the last
three decades. He was also spearheading a movement against the unabated 'cow
slaughter' being carried out by the Christian community for years. On the
eve of Christmas, the community had organised for a massive 'conversion' program
in a predominantly Hindu tribal area erecting arches & cut-outs in front
of Hindu houses, thereby provoking them. When the Hindu tribals under the
leadership of Swmi Lakshmanananda protested against this, a group of Christian
thugs have ruthlessly attacked his convoy, which is uncalled for and unwarranted.
This arrogant action has naturally provoked the majority community, which
has reacted in the only way the minority seems to understand. The Christian
community leaders must respect the Constitution and the law of the land and
should not indulge in conversion activities just because they get unrestricted
flow of money and political support.
With the advent of the UPA government, in
the last three years, evangelization has been on the increase through out
the country to an alarming extent. This is mainly because of the minority
appeasement policies of the UPA government under a 'foreign' head, which have
emboldened the missionaries to indulge in large scale conversions. The Ministry
of Home Affairs in its annual report ( ) on "Receipt of Foreign Contributions
by Voluntary Associations", lists "Maintenance of priests/preachers/other
religious functionaries" as one of the purposes receiving a huge amount
of $21 million dollars of all foreign funding. Out of the fifteen top donor
agencies given in a chart on page 20, eight are Christian and seven are secular
and none are Hindu. The total fund sent to India as per the official declaration
is a whopping $336,218,421 dollars! The unofficial and clandestine flow of
funds is left to our imagination! A major chunk of this money is spent on
conversions, targeting mainly the gullible poor and ignorant Hindus. This
is what is called as "Christian syndrome"! It can be cured only
by stringent anti-conversion laws, scanning of financial resources and stopping
the flow of foreign funds.
The minorities must respect the Constitution,
the Supreme Court and the Law of the land and must coexist without interfering
in the cultural & religious practices of the majority community. Instead,
if they continue with the ugly business of conversion with the aids from foreign
countries and abetment from local pseudo-secular politicians, then they will
harvest not souls, but what they have sown.
