The media has conveniently forgotten it, even as the left-liberals were confused on whether to support overtly the reverend so-and-so, the principal of a Jesuit institution in Mumbai, who had sent an email to his students, warning against “communal forces coming to power.”
Implicit in this email is the underlying message: don’t vote for the BJP and don’t make Mr. Narendra Modi, the PM. The BJP made the right noises, condemning the email. I, for one, welcome the reverend’s statement. Why, because he had the guts to say openly what the clergy—most of them, at any rate—have been doing slyly, away from the glare of publicity.
Recently, a vernacular newspaper did a survey on the Tamil Nadu election scene. It quoted a Christian voter as saying that he was aware of the Gujarat-development-model and was appreciative of it. But he would not vote for Modi, for his parish priest had told them that Mr. Modi had clamped strict laws against conversions in Gujarat. What the priest conveniently forgot to tell his flock is that the laws in Gujarat are not against conversions, but against forced and fraudulent conversions, using inducements, etc. Also, this voter quoted by Indian Express is not a stray case. I have spoken to dozens of Christian voters in the south, and there is not even one who has a kind word about Mr. Modi.
In this connection, I am surprised that the BJP has not voiced its disapproval against the actions of Mr. John Dayal, who has openly testified against Mr. Narendra Modi in the US Congress on April Fourth. According to a news agency report, “Testifying before the influential Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the US Congress on ‘The Plight of Religious Minorities in India,’ John Dayal, member of India’s National Integration Council, expressed his serious concern over the future of secularism and freedom of religion in the country.
"The root cause of our fear is the stranglehold that the infamous RSS has achieved on the political discourse, and the apparatus of the powerful BJP,’ explained Dayal, who is also secretary general of the All India Christian Council. A BJP-led government, he feared, would use state machinery and law enforcement apparatus to harass, intimidate and disenfranchise religious minorities. ‘Hundreds of youth from minority communities are still in jail accused of acts of terror that are now proven to be the handiwork of Hindutva terror groups,’ he said. He was joined by other law makers in the US Congress.”
It was left to “Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, the first ever Hindu lawmaker in the US Congress, to question the timing of the Congressional hearing and allege that its goal is to influence the Indian elections. ‘I do not believe the timing of this hearing is a coincidence. The national elections in India begin on Monday and continue until May 12. I am concerned that the goal of this hearing is to influence the outcome of India’s national elections, which is not an appropriate role for the US Congress,’ Gabbard said.”
I can visualize the sound and fury that a statement of this kind would have evoked, if, say, the head of some Ulema Council in India had made before a Muslim religious body in Saudi Arabia. I can understand the media’s reluctance to grill Mr. Dayal. He is a media favourite. Even on a purely Hindu subject, like the Thiruvanthapuram temple treasure, he was part of the debate on CNN-IBN, where he waxed eloquent about how the church spends all its money on the poor.
According to another report in the Indian Express, “some Christian organizations, in Pune, are appealing to members of the community to vote only for the Congress in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections,” despite the fact that a significant lot was disillusioned with the party. An admirer of Fr. Cedric Prakash, a Gujarati priest and an outspoken opponent of Mr. Modi, has sent a chain mail, in which he says, “If Narendra Modi becomes prime minister, he will pass an anti-conversion bill. He has a thorough agenda against Christians. He has done it in Gujarat. We need a government who will be for Christians, not against, a leader who fears God and not evil in his ways. Please encourage all Christians everywhere NOT TO vote for Narendra Modi. Spread the word. There are 101,20,000 christians (sic) voters in India. If none of these vote for him, he will not achieve 272 seats, the number required for victory.”
Missionary activity was on the upswing during the ten-year rule of the UPA, which looked the other way. Worse still, the UPA was using the central intelligence agencies to book members of the Sangh parivar in terror cases. The horrendous Communal and Targeted Violence Bill was the handiwork of Sonia Gandhi’s NAC, which consisted of sundry Hindu haters and Maoist sympathizers, all hand-picked by Madam. Had the bill, in its present form, been approved by parliament, it would have reduced the majority community to second class citizens. It catered to the missionary agenda of segregating the Dalits from the Hindu mainstream. In the event of a communal riot, members of the minorities and the Scheduled Castes would have been automatically absolved of any involvement in it, while those of the majority community alone would have been answerable.
The immediate provocation for the principal’s letter is the prospect of a Modi-led government at the centre. A BJP government may not clamp down on missionary activity, but its very presence could make these elements uncomfortable. A recent article in The Hindu speaks of the widening of the chasm between Sarna and Christian tribals in Jharkhand. Tribes may be the missionary target in north India, but in south India, where the RSS and BJP influence is limited, almost every caste group is fair game. Families and even couples have been separated by the missionary onslaught.
I am grateful to the reverend at least for one reason: his email has brought into the open the church’s attempt to influence the political arena, something that we in the south have been long aware of. The principal’s letter also has a touch of humour. It says that “…The prospect of an alliance of corporate capital and communal forces coming to power constitutes a real threat to the future of our secular democracy.” The term “communal forces,” to insidiously describe the BJP, is a favourite of that other great secularist, Mr. Assaudin Owaisi of the MIM.
I don’t take the reverend’s sermon too seriously on the relative merits of the Gujarat economic model vis-à-vis the UPA’s flagship schemes for the poor. If the Gujarat Government had implemented these so-called pro-poor schemes and the UPA vice-versa, I have no doubt he would written about how the benefits of these welfare schemes had not reached the poor, how money was being siphoned off, and how their success cannot be assured without sustained economic growth. It is basically like the wolf and the lamb fable we read as a child: No matter what you say or do, I’ll eat you.
Would the principal dash off a similar letter to his students, if his college were in Iran or Pakistan, where dogma rules religion, not customs and traditions, as in India? He needn’t go that far. In Kerala, Prof T.J. Joseph had his hand cut off by “Islamic fundamentalists,” on 4th July 2010, for alleged blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed. So, what did his employer, Newman College, a church-run institution, do? Threaten to close down the college? Did the principal write an email to his students warning against “communal forces?” NOTA (none of the above). The professor was dismissed from service on 4th September 2010, “for hurting the religious sentiments of a community.”
A news report said Prof Joseph’s wife, Salomi (48), committed suicide, on 19th March 2014, “due to mental tension as her husband was not reinstated. The family has been failing to make both ends meet with no regular income for a long time.” According to PTI, “After a four-year-long legal battle with college authorities for his reinstatement, Prof Joseph rejoined service at the church-run college in Idukki on Friday (28th March 2014), three days before his retirement. …Students clapped and his colleagues shook hands as the lecturer, who is recovering from the shock of his wife’s suicide, rejoined service.”
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