Conversion - Challenge to Indian Nationalism

8/14/2019 Conversion - Challenge to Indian Nationalism

1/8

Conversion Challenge to Indian Nationalismand National Integration

-Ashok Sahu.

Indian nationalism is based on the rock foundation of Indiasculture which is Sanatana culture that is both eclectic and eternal whichis the secret of its universality both in terms of time and space. Therehas been intolerance by all the Semitic cultures in the world and historyis replete with instances of barbaric attacks to rob India of her richculture. Conversion of Indians to Christianity and Islam is directly linkedto the alien rule to which India was subjected for more than 1000 years.Since 712 A.D. invaders from across the western border had beenattempting to forcefully convert India, the Dar-ul-Harb into Dar-ul-Islam,i.e. an Islamic Indiawhich culminated during the reign of Aurangzeb till

1707 A.D. Then came the British period after fall of Plassey in 1757 when Christian missionaries in large number came from Portugal,France, Britain, USA and Germany to harvest souls while preachingGospels of Jesus Christ. The story that St. Thomas came to Kerala in 58A.D. and Syrian Christians came to South India in the 4th century A.D. iswithout much of authentication in antiquity. Though during the Mogulperiod the Muslim rulers were directly involved in getting the Hindusubjects converted to Islam and patronise them by showing preferentialtreatment, yet during the British rule there was no overt link but covertsupport to the act of proselytisation by the missionaries. The Britishadministration had divided the Indian Hindus as higher castes and the

depressed classes. They had also termed the Janajatis as aborigines andanimists. The missionaries had eyed on the depressed classes (SC) andthe Janajatis (ST) for conversion who were vulnerable to coercion,allurements, fraud, inducements and pecuniary benefits.

There was no anti-conversion law in India during the pre-independent days. During British regime the rulers themselves werefollowers of Christianity and understandably they did not enact a lawwhich could have been detrimental to their own interest by prohibitingconversion from one religion to another. In those days, many Hinduswillingly and voluntarily embraced Christianity to secure pecuniary gainsbesides postings in the British Army and Civil Service, and other

advantages from the British rulers. In some of the Princely States therewere local laws preventing conversion to Christianity by the missionariessuch as the Raigarh State Conversion Act 1936, the Patna Freedom ofReligion Act 1942, the Sarguja State Apostasy Act 1945 and the UdaipurState Anti-Conversion Act 1946. Similar laws were enacted in BikanerJodhpur, Kalahandi and Kota. These apart, many more Princely Stateswere specifically against conversion to Christianity and enacted anti-conversion laws in their states. During the British Rule there wasrampant conversion in the tribal belts in the North East, Chhotnagpur,Orissa, Madras, Mysore, Trivancore, Cochin, Quilon and Hyderabad.

Mahatma Gandhi was vehemently opposed to conversion by the

missionaries under garb of human service to the marginalised sections inthe society. Gandhiji was one of those Hindus who had studied thescriptures of all the important religions with open mind and withoutprejudice. In fact Gandhiji had shocked the Christian world by living likeJesus without being a Christian. Like Jesus he disowned all property aswell as his relatives; became a celebate at the age of thirty seven, lived asimple life adorned by Truth and like Jesus he had gathered around himfollowers (apostles) who were prepared to do his bidding without demur.His life-style and his preaching added to his charisma. He had become aphenomenon, an enigma, a saint worshipped by millions of people inIndia. Christian missionaries were greatly tempted to convert a man like

Gandhiji. They thought that if Gandhiji was converted millions of his

1


2/8

followers will automatically follow suit. Christian missionaries came fromall parts of the world, to discuss with him matters religious but oftenwith the sole aim of converting him to Christianity. They argued withhim. He listened to them patiently, argued with them and sometimeseven rebuked them for mixing up social work with proselytising.

Gandhiji used to say: Am certainly against use of hospitals,schools and like for purposes of conversion. It is hardly healthy methodand certainly gives rise to bitter resentment. Conversion is a matter ofheart and must depend upon silent influence of pure character andconduct of missionaries. True conversion comes imperceptibly like aromaof a rose. Thus am not against conversion as such but am certainlyagainst present methods. Conversion must not be reduced to businessdepending for increase upon pounds, shillings, pence. I also hold thatall great religions are of equal merit to respective nations orindividuals professing them. India is in no need of conversion of the

type described. Whilst under Swaraj all would be free to exercisetheir own faiths.Personally, I would wish present methods adopted by missionaries were abandoned even now and that underconviction not compulsion. He further adds, I believe that there is nosuch thing as conversion from one faith to another in the accepted senseof the term. It is a highly personal matter for the individual and his God.I may not have any design upon my neighbour as to his faith which Imust honour even as I honour my own. For I regard all the greatreligions of the world as true at any rate for the people professing themas mine is true for me. Having reverently studied the scriptures of theworld, I have no difficulty in perceiving the beauties in all of them. I

could no more think of asking a Christian or a Mussalman or a Parsi or aJew to change his faith than I would think of changing my own. Thismakes me no more oblivious of the limitations of the professors of thosefaiths, than it makes me of the grave limitations of the professors ofmine. And seeing that it takes all my resources in trying to bring mypractice to the level of my faith and in preaching the same to my co-religionists, I do not dream of preaching to the followers of other faiths.Judge not lest ye be judged is sound maxim for ones conduct. It is aconviction daily growing upon me that the great and rich Christianmissions will render true service to India, if they can persuadethemselves to confine their activities to humanitarian service without the

ulterior motive of converting India or at least her unsophisticatedvillagers to Christianity, and destroying their social superstructure, which not withstanding its many defects has stood now from timeimmemorial the onslaughts upon it from within and from without. (Vol.61 p.454-58 (Harijan. 28-9-1935). In anther occasion he said: Conversionnowadays has become a matter of business, like any other. Iremember having read a missionary report saying how much it costper head to convert and then presenting a budget for the nextharvest.

Gandhiji had thus promised whilst under Swaraj all would be freeto exercise their own faiths. Keeping this promise in mind most of theGandhians in the Constituent Assembly had a positive view whileincorporating the Articles 25 to 30 under Freedom of Religion thatguarantee to profess, practice, and preach ones religion. Article 25 ismost relevant for present purposes. It is similar to Article 18 of theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Article 25 reads inrelevant part as follows: Freedom of conscience and free profession,practice and propagation of religion. The Supreme Court of India hasupheld the constitutional validity of the Orissa and Madhya Pradeshanti-conversion laws and held that the right to profess, practice and

propagate ones religion does not include the right to convert some one toones religion.

2


3/8


4/8

Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu etc. enacted anti-conversionlaws to prevent mass conversions by force, fraud, allurement,inducement and cheating. In 2006 Madhya Pradesh amended its 1968Act and made it mandatory requiring a person embracing anotherreligion to give advance information to the authorities.

After Independence and in the changed democratic set-up, publicopinion against conversion became vigilant and assertive. In apredominantly Hindu Society, a large-scale conversion of Hindus toChristianity or Islam has a tendency to disturb the local custom andfaith as well as indigenous institutions and thereby rob the local peopleof their indigenous culture. It generates disharmony, inter-classcleavages and fosters a rift in the society that disintegrates the bodypolitic. It disturbs the social structure and leads to a clash of cultures.Conversions arouse resentment and indignation and help to the flames ofcommunal frenzy and passion creating problems of Law and Order.

In Madhya Pradesh, having a large population of tribal known asAdivasis, the Government received number of reports that large-scaleconversions of tribal to Christians were taking place by threat,inducement and other fraudulent means by foreign missionaries and theGovernment should put an end to this unhealthy practice. TheGovernment then constituted an inquiry commission in April, 1954headed by Dr Bhavani Shankar Niyogi, retired Chief Justice of theMadhya Pradesh High Court, and comprising five other membersincluding S. K. George, a Christian and a true Gandhian and working asProfessor in the Commerce College at Wardha. The Commission toured

fourteen districts and visited seventy- seven places. It examined 11,300persons coming from 770 villages and sent questionnaires and receivedreports from 375 institutions, which included 55 Christian institutions. The Niyogi Committee Report was published by the Government ofMadhya Pradesh in July 1956. This Committee presented the history ofChristian Missions with reference to the old Madhya Pradesh and mergedStates. Even at that time there was a public agitation fomented by theMissionaries for the creation of a new State in Jharkhand. Upon thisrequest, the Niyogi Committee said: 'The separatist tendency that hasgripped the mind of the aboriginals under the influence of Lutheran andRoman Catholic Missions is entirely due to the consistent policy pursued

by the British Government and the Missionaries. The final segregation ofthe aborigines in the Census of 1931 from the main body of the Hindusconsidered along with the recommendations of the Simon Commission which were incorporated in the Government of India Act, 1935apparently set the stage for the demand of a separate State of Jharkhandon the lines of Pakistan'.

The Niyogi Committee observed that the aim of many of theChristian Missions was to resist the progress of national unity.

Their aim was to take advantage of the freedom accorded by theConstitution of India to the propagation of religion and to create aChristian Party in the name of Indian Democracy on lines of the MuslimLeague ultimately to make out a claim for a separate State, or at least tocreate a 'militant minority'.

The Niyogi Committee further stated that in order to achieve theabove objectives the Christian Missionaries in India had received anamount of Rs.29.27 crores from various Western countries from January1950 to June 1954. U.S.A. contributed an amount of Rs.20.68 Croresfollowed by U.K. which contributed an amount of Rs.4.83 crores.

4


5/8

The Niyogi Committee concluded: 'Bulk of this foreign moneyreceived ostensibly for educational and medical institutions is spent onproselytising. Most of the amount is utilised for creating a class ofprofessional proselytizers, both foreign and Indian. There is a greatdisparity between the scales of salaries and allowances paid to foreign

Missionaries on the one hand and to their native mercenaries on theother'.The Madhya Pradesh Government upon receiving pseudo seculardirections from the Government of India buried the Niyogi CommitteeReport in 1956 itself. However, the Niyogi Committee Report which wasaccompanied by two volumes of documentation raised a storm inMissionary circles in India and abroad. The only Indian leader apart fromGuruji Golwalkar who welcomed the Niyogi Committee Report was Rajaji,who said: Such Missionary attempts at proselytism tend to destroyfamily and social harmony, which is not a good thing to do'.

However, some of the salient points among the recommendations

made by the Commission are as follows:-

1) Christian missionaries are converting innocent and ignorant people toChristianity by offering various inducements such as free education, freemedical facilities and employment opportunities.

2) Christian institutions are receiving funds and other contributions fromforeign countries.

3) These Christian institutions are controlled by the Churches of foreigncountries.

4) It is, therefore, necessary to enact legislation banning conversion.

On these recommendations of the Committee, the Madhya PradeshGovernment passed the anti-conversion law known as Madhya PradeshSwantraya Adhiniyam Act, 1968 prohibiting conversion from one religionto another religion. Orissa was the first state in independent India toenact a law called Orissa Freedom of Religion Act 1967. These were soonfollowed by the Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act 1978 toprovide for prohibition of conversion from one religious faith to anotherby use of force or inducement or by fraudulent means. The Union

Territory of Tripura also passed a similar enactment. Whether thefundamental right to practice and propagate religion includes the right toconvert, was considered by the Supreme Court of India in the case ofRev Stanislaus vs Madhya Pradesh, AIR 1977 SC 908 in which theconstitutional validity of the conversion-prohibiting laws enacted byMadhya Pradesh and Orissa was challenged. The Bench observed: "Wehave no doubt that it is in this sense that the word `propagate' has beenused in Article 25 (1), for what the Article grants is not the right toconvert another person to one's own religion, but to transmit or spreadone's religion by an exposition of its tenets."

The Parliament as early as 1954 took up for considerationlegislative enactment banning conversion known as Indian Conversion(Regulation and Registration) Bill and later in 1960 the BackwardCommunities (Religious Protection) Bill and they had to be dropped forlack of majority support. A Bill was introduced in Parliament by amember O.P. Tyagi called The Freedom of Religion Bill 1978. The Billwas a modified and improved version of the legislative enactments of theMadhya Pradesh and Orissa. As there was no sufficient support inParliament the Bill was withdrawn by the private member O.P. Tyagi.Notwithstanding the abortive attempts for a national legislation banning

conversion, it is still felt pertinent to have a stringent law with nationwide jurisdiction so that the Christian missionaries are restrained from

5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhya_Pradeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orissahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_Indiahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madhya_Pradeshhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orissa


6/8

mass conversion of people as a scheme financed and patronised byforeign funding and diplomatic support.

1991 to 2000, the last decade of the second millennium iseuphemistically referred to by the Christians whole over the world as the

Universal Decade of Evangelization. Some 80 world wide plans andother 500 national plans had been announced with 2000 AD as theirtarget dates. In this declared decade of harvest the USA, the UK,Germany, Italy and Australia have pumped millions of US dollars intoIndia through multi-national NGOs operating in India with the sole aimto convert as many Indians as possible from among the marginalisedsection of its Hindu population. American Evangelical agencies haveestablished in India an enormous, well co-ordinated and strategisedreligious conversion plan. This plan got a fillip after George W. Bush Jr.became President in 2001. At the heart of this complex and sophisticatedoperation is a simple strategy convert locals and then give them the

know-how and money to plant their own churches and multiply.Orissa Kandhmal is their laboratory where 20% are Dalit Pana and 52%are Janajatis in the district population, of whom 80% are below povertyline. Christian NGOs get their funding from their American patrons orfrom USAID. These groups like CARE, World Vision, Jana Vikash, AshaKiran etc. are traditionally closely linked with successive Americangovernments. In violation of the various provisions under the ForeignContributions (Regulation) Act (FCRA), these world bodies have beenreceiving financial contributions in India ultimately intended forconversion. The annual budget by Western countries exceeds Rs. 1,75,000 crores per annum. Such amount during 2007-08 exceeded Rs.

8,000 crores only for spending in India. In the Gajapati ADP (AreaDevelopment Programmes), situated in Gumma block of OrissasGajapati district, a World Vision report admits that Canadianmissionaries have worked in the area for just over 50 years and to-day85-90 per cent of the community is Christian. The United StatesCommission on International Religious Freedom is monitoring veryclosely the legislation against religious conversions enacted in TamilNadu, Rajasthan and other states. This only shows how foreignmissionaries are evincing keen interest and their meticulous follow-upaction on conversion activities in India. Globally supported and fundedChristian missionaries are functioning with unabated zeal and

enthusiasm to spread their tentacles to find out victims for conversion.Allurement and cheating are clubbed in the singular operation of micro-financing by the NGOs to the socially and economically marginalizedfamilies who after their inability to pay even the borrowed capitalmortgage their faith at the altar of Jesus in lieu of the writing off of theloan amount. It is against such sinister designs that SwamiLaxamananandji fought relentlessly and taught self esteem and dignityto the poor and illiterate tribe Kandhs in Kandhmal for last 40 years.

The GCOWE (Global Consultation on World Evangelization) in1995 in Seoul, South Korea, where nearly 4000 Christian leaders from186 countries including India, gathered to draw up secret and covertevangelical plans. Many American evangelists now describe GCOWE asthe most strategic Christian gathering in history. That year also sawthe transformation of the movement to a higher plane in the name of Joshua Project. Grassroots networking structure, a network ofnetworks was planned to cover the entire world through schemeslike PREM, NICE and PLUG. PLUG means people in every language,urban centre and geographic division. NICE stands for networkingthrough initiatives and conversion by evangelization. PREM refers totechniques like Prayer, Research, Evangelization and Mobilisation. So it

is evident that there is an international pressure and conspiracy whichhas to be fought at the diplomatic level giving topmost priority to the

6


7/8

national security. Mass scale proselytisation is intended to weaken Indiaby promoting insurgencies in the strategically important sectors. It maybe noted that the Arakan Hills belt bordering with Myanmar is rich withuranium and petroleum. Both these are very vital for national economy.

As is generally known, Christian proselytising activities have beenspecially concentrated in areas of relatively of high presence of scheduledtribes. There are 63 districts in the country where Christian presencehas reached 10 percent or more; in 42 of these districts scheduled tribesform 50 or more of the population. Of these, 34 are in north-easternstates. The remaining 8 districts are: Karbi Anglong and North CacharHills of Assam; Gumla of Jharkhand; Sundergarh, Kandhmal andGajapati of Orissa; Jashpur of Chhatisgarh; and Nicobars district ofAndaman and Nicobar Islands. The remaining 21districts with Christianpresence of more than 10 per cent include Dibang Valley and Changlangof Arunachal Pradesh, Senapati of Manipur, Kokrajhar of Assam and

Wayanad of Kerala, all of which have significantly high presence oftribals. They form more than 20% of the population and much more inseveral of them. There are only 16 districts that have significantChristian presence of more than 10% along with negligibly smallpresence of scheduled tribes. These 16 include 9 districts of Kerala; theNilgiris, Thoothukudi, Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari of Tamil Nadu;both districts of Goa and Andamans. It seems that the Christianproselytising activities have been specially concentrated in the areaswhere tribals form a majority, and there is little presence of non-tribalsociety to interfere with these activities. Thus the Northeast including thetea garden areas in Assam and Nicobar Islands has been rapidly

proselytized. Success of proselytisation among dalits has not been asrampant as among the tribals. But in Kandhmal 20% of total populationis Pana (SC) of whom 60% have been converted to Christianity, where as52% are Kandh tribe of whom only 4% could be converted toChristianity. There are only 5 districts in the country where dalits form20% or more of the population and yet have a Christian presence of 5%or more. These are Thiruvallur, Kancheepuram, Nilgiris and Ariyalur ofTamil Nadu and Gurudaspur of Punjab. But it is also perhaps true thatmore than half of Christians in the country are from among theScheduled Castes who do not disclose their religion during census. Theyconstitute the crypto Christians and are leading the Dalit Christian

movement whose Constitutional status for benefiting out of thereservation facilities is pending for decision before the Supreme Court.

The Anti-conversion laws enacted between 1967 and 2007 madeforced conversion a cognisable offence under sections 295 A and 298 ofthe Indian Penal Code that stipulate that malice and deliberate intentionto hurt the sentiments of others is a penal offence punishable by varyingdurations of imprisonment and fines. As early as 1967, it became evidentthat the concern was not just with forced conversion, but withconversion to any religion other than Hinduism and especiallyChristianity and Islam. In the Orissa and Madhya Pradesh Acts, thepunishment was to be doubled if the offence had been committed inrespect of a minor, a woman or a person belonging to the ScheduledCaste or Scheduled Tribe community. These may be seen as furtherreinforcing the several statutory penalties for ceasing to be a Hindu suchas the 1955-56 Hindu Law enactments namely Hindu Minority andGuardianship Act 1956 (Section 6), Hindu Adoption and MaintenanceAct 1956 (Sections 7, 8, 9, 11, 18-24), Hindu Marriage Act 1955(Sections 13 (ii), 13 A) and the Hindu Succession Act (section 26). Thepicture is complete if we account for the fact that most of these laws areaimed to keep the low caste Hindus within the fold of Hinduism. And so

while law prohibits conversion, `reconversion' of low caste Hindus ispermissible. If a low caste Hindu who had converted to another faith or

7


8/8

any of his descendants reconverts to Hinduism, he might get back hisoriginal caste (Kailash Sonkar (1984) 2 SCC 91; S. Raja Gopal AIR 1969SC 101).

The brutal murder of Swami Shanti Kaliji Maharaj in Tripura in

August 2000 and most recently the cold blooded murder of VedantaKeshari Swami Laxamananandji Maharaj on 23 August 2008 in Orissaremind us of the nefarious means that missionaries could adopt to goahead with their conversion spree even by eliminating saints who comeon their way of proselytisation. The Hindu population has increased lessthan 200% in Kandhmal district in Orissa over a span of 40 years from1961 to 2001. During the same period the Christian population hasincreased by 600% and there is a proportionate decline in the number ofPana Caste among Hindus. According to the District authorities theofficially converted in accordance with the provisions of the OrissaFreedom of Religion Act, 1967 and the Orissa Freedom of Religion Rules,

1989 are only two persons in one family till 2007. Despite an Act by theOrissa Legislature and relentless protests and emancipation programmesby Swamiji, more than one lakh have been converted in one district alonein Orissa during last forty years. At last, the lone fighter was brutallymurdered along with his four associates while in his Ashram on 23rd

August 2008. This shows how desperate and merciless the missionariescould be under the cloak of egalitarianism. Service is the faade andconversion is the purpose for them. The whole nation has to rise to theoccasion much before enough damage is done by the perpetrators to thedetriment of the national security.

[Inaugural Address at the National Executive Annual Conference of the Akhila Bharatiya AdhivaktaParishad, 29th December 2008, at Rameswaram (TN)]

8

Conversion - Challenge to Indian Nationalism

Documents

Transcript of Conversion - Challenge to Indian Nationalism