This Book pertains to the political conditions of Bharat prevailing prior to 1996.

This book is published in Hindi also

© KANAYALAL M. TALREJA

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SECESSIONIST ACTIVITIES OF CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES

1. The Background

     The Christian proselytisers set their foot on the soil of Hindusthan with the invasion of the western coast by the Portuguese in 1498. Thus the arrival of the Portuguese in Hindusthan marks the advent of Christianity on Indian soil. Under the rule of the Portuguese, Christianisation was a stale enterprise. Under the Pope's instructions. King Joao III of Portugal appointed Francis Xavier for the propagation of Christianity in Hindusthan. Francis Xavier landed ashore in 1542 and started his proselytising activities in Goa. It is Francis Xavier who is remembered as the first importer of Christianity in Bharat. He was no less cruel than Aurangzeb. For converting Hindus to Christianity, he adopted the same brutal methods which were adopted by Aurangzeb while converting Hindus to Islam. However, he did not find conversion of Hindus to Christianity, an easy task. He had to face stiff opposition and rigid resistance. Being dejected and disappointed, he wrote a letter dated January 20, 1548 to Jesuit Father Rodrigues:

     "According to my experience, the only effective way to spread religion in India is for the King (of Portugal) to proclaim by means of an edict to all his officials in India that he shall put trust only in those who will exert themselves to extend the realm of religion by every means in their power .... If the king publishes such an edict and treats severely those who disobey it, a great number of the natives will embrace the faith of Jesus Christ, otherwise no success can be expected."

     He wrote a letter to King Joao III of Portugal as under: "To your servants you must declare as plainly as possible .... that the only way of escaping your wrath and of obtaining your favour is to make as many Christians as possible in the countries over which they rule."1

     Before the advent of the Portuguese, Christianity was unkown in this country. However, a few peaceful Christian traders, called Syrian Christians, having lied from the onslaught of fierce Arabs had taken refuge in southern part of Hindusthan. Bharat received them with open arms and generously gave them shelter. Unlike the Portuguese invaders, they were harmless.

     The Portuguese caused havoc in the coastal areas, converted lakhs of Hindus by force, raped women, and destroyed temples and monasteries. During their four hundred years' reign of terror and tyranny, they could convert more than half of the population in Goa to Roman Catholic Christianity. They tried toolh and nail to destroy everything that represented Hindus and Hinduism and brought Goa, Daman, Diu and Vasai under colonial slavery. The brave Hindu army under the command of Veer Chimaji Appa fought against the Portuguese and freed Vasai from the Portuguese rule.2

     It was Francis Xavier who was responsible for the establishment of the 'Holy Inquisition of Goa' "Under this Inquisition, Hindu women, especially Brahmin women were captured from their homes, brought before courts and sentenced to imprisonment. In the prison, the very judges who had sentenced them, raped them. After this dishonour, these women were carried to midstream and burnt alive.

1. (i) K.M. Panikkar: Asia and Western Dominance, p. 382.

(ii) Justice Dr. M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi: Report of the Christian

Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956. Vol, I, p. 65.

2. Masurashram Patrika, English monthly magazine, Bombay, edited by Brahmachari Vishwanathji, September 1985, p. 2.

Their children were carried to Portugal Colonies and sold as slaves."3

     Dr. M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi, the retired chief justice, High Court of Judicature Nagpur writes about the "Holy Inquisition" as under: "In 1546, he (Francis Xavier) wrote a letter to the King of Portugal requesting him to establish the Holy Inquisition as it was called. This "unholy and wicked institution" lasted for nearly two hundred and fifty years. It perpetrated innumerable atrocities on both Christians and non-Christians. It proved the worst of its kind, established anywhere."4

     During the wicked rule of the Portuguese in Goa, indescribable atrocities were perpetrated on Hindus. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi categorically narrates in his report: "The Portuguese power became ruthless, the more it got itself established in India. Royal charters were issued from time to time, making invidious distinctions between Christians and non-Christians and subjecting the latter to untold disabilities. In 1559 an enactment was passed debarring all Hindus from holding any public office. In the same year another law was enacted confiscating the properties of non-Christian orphans if they refused to be converted to Christianity. Yet another law ordered destruction of Hindu temples and images and prohibited all non-Christian religious festivals. In 1560 all the Brahmins and goldsmiths were ordered to accept Christianity, otherwise they were to be turned out of Goa. By a law passed in 1567 the Hindus were prohibited from performing their important religious ceremonies such as investiture of sacred thread, marriage ceremonies and even cremation rites. Hindu religious books were proscribed. AH non-Christians above the age of 15 were forced to attend the preaching of Christian religion. Hindu temples were

3. Extract from an article, Why Hindus Oppose Pope's Visit, by M.L. Gupta, published in Masurashram Patrika, English monthly, Bombay, edited by Brahmachari Vishwanathji, January 1986, p. 13.

4. Justice Dr. M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 66.

destroyed and in their place churches were built. In 1575, another law was passed by which the Hindu nationals were debarred from their civic right of renting state land. People of Goa were prohibited to use their native language by an order of 1684 and were allowed three years to learn the Portuguese language under pain of being proceeded against under law of the land. The aim of all these enactments was to compel the people either to accept Christian religion or to leave the State."5

     In 1668, when the Charter of the East India Company was to be renewed, a clause was included in it, to the effect that chaplains approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury were to be appointed at all ports in India in the possession of the Company. In 1701 "The Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Countries" (SPG) was established as a branch of "The Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge" (SPCK) formed earlier. The SPG was incorporated by Royal Charter to spread Christianity in the colonies.

     In the beginning, the East India Company, being more interested in earning fabulous profits from its trade, was not interested in converting the Hindus and meticulously decided to avoid anything that might cause unrest among the Indians and affect its trade adversely. Even Macaulay had publicly announced: "The Government abstains and I hope will always abstain from encouraging those whose aim is to convert the natives to Christianity." Thus the East India Company adopted a policy of religious neutrality till as late as 1813. But the British Chaplains had always disdained this policy, and they carried on their proselytising activities surreptitiously. In fact, the first recorded conversion by the British Chaplains was in December 1616 — that of a young Bengali Hindu by a missionary named Patrick Copeland. He was proselytised secretly. His baptism was performed far away in London, in the presence of King James I, Lord Mayor of London and other British officers.

5. Justice Dr. M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 66.

     Despite the neutral policy of the East India Company, the governors and governor generals secretly supported the missionary activities in Bharat. The evangelical party in England gained ground and they climaxed their efforts to win public support for 'Christianising India'.6

     Consequently in July 1813, a clause was inserted in the Charter Act under which missionaries of all sects were permitted to come to India for proselytising activities. Thus missionary activities were recognised by the legislature. The Charter Act of 1813 opened the gates of India for perennial influx of Christian proselytisers to Christianise India. In 1813 six American Protestant missions entered India. Their number increased from 6 to 1,800 in 1910.

     In 1813 the British Parliament forced the East India Company to support the mission work and establish the Church of England in India with a bishop in Calcutta. The London Missionary Society established itself in Madras in 1813, and at Chitoor in 1825. There was already a missionary at Vishakhapatnam since 1805. The Church Missionary Society had started its proselytising activities in Madras in 1820 and within a span of fifteen years, succeeded in converting more than 10,000 scheduled caste Shanars to Christianity. The Wesleyan Mission and the Church of Scotland landed in India in 1818 and 1837 respectively.

     In 1833, when the competition for territorial acquisition in India from other European powers, utlimately came to an end, the British government accorded permission for missionary conversion work in India to non-British missionary organisations. Consequently, the American Mission, the Leipzig Lutherian Mission, the Missionary Society of Lund in Sweden and . a host of other proselytising agencies infiltrated into South Hindusthan. Pope Gregory XVI (1831 — 1846) did not lag behind in taking advantage of the change in the policy of the British. He immediately re-organised his missions in Hindusthan by creating a Vicar Apostolic of Madras in

6. Lovett Sn H.V.: Social Policy to 1858 — The Cambridge History of India, Vol. VI, Cambridge Press, 1932, p. 121.

1832, under the jurisdiction of "The Sacred Congregations of the Propaganda Fidei'", the Pope's fanatic army of proselytisers.

     After 1857, Christian missionaries started cold crusades (religious wars) against Hindus, Hinduism and Hindusthan. After the independence of India, their proselytising speed has tremendously increased. Christian Conference of Singapore, Catholic Bishop Conference of Delhi, National Christian Council of Nagpur and other missionary agencies, under the guidance of the World Council of Churches Geneva, have been trying tooth and nail to destroy the culture and civilization of Hindus. Different missionaries of different sects of Christianity like Methodists, Baptists, Lutherians, Syro-Malabar are busy day and night in converting innocent, illiterate Hindus of Hindusthan by the dint of force, fraud and temptation. In order to facilitate and quicken the speed of conversion, they have divided Hindusthan into 109 dioceses (districts).

     Arun Shourie states: "It costs '145 billion dollars to operate global Christianity', records a book on evangelization. The Chruch commands four million full time Christian workers, it runs 13,000 major libraries, it publishes 22,000 periodicals, it publishes four billion tracts a year, it operates 1,800 Christian radio and TV stations. It runs 1,500 universities, and 930 research centres. It has a quarter of a million foreign missionaries; and over four hundred institutions to train them. ... Full-time Indian missionaries from organised societies increased from 420 in 1973 to 2,941 societies in 1983. These missionaries have seen remarkable growth in northern India, in places such as Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim. In Western India, Christian workers estimate that two new worship groups are formed every week through indigenous missionary effort. The Indian Evangelist Team has set a goal of 2,000 new Churches by the year 2000. In Tamil Nadu, the India Church Growth Mission hopes to plant 1,000 Churches in unreached villages."7

7. Arun Shourie: Missionaries in India, 1994, pp. 13-15.

2. Malicious Statements of the Fanatic Proselytisers

     Christian missionaries often boast of preaching international peace and. universal brotherhood. But if we x-ray their utterances and announcements, their malicious intentions and aspirations are revealed. The readers will be utterly amazed and electrified to read the various statements and proclamations of various missionaries cited below.

     J.P. Leonard, S.J. Archbishop of Madurai proclaimed unambiguously: "If we would reveal our intentions, without hiding them at all, we hold that the Hindu Puranas and Hinduism must disappear from this land; and the sooner they disappear, the more welcome."8

     In 1542, St. Francis Xavier had expressed in Goa: "My joy will know no bounds, when all natives will be converted to Christianity, the temples of false gods will be destroyed and the idols will be broken into pieces. I feel, it will surely happen."9

     Just before the Pope's visit to India in November 1964, Bishop William Gomes said in the IEC Bulletin of 27th June 1964 that the spread of Christ's Kingdom was necessary for the salvation of Hindu society. The IEC Bulletin of May 1964 also declared: "What happened in the Roman days of Christianity 1900 years ago, is happening today in India. Its six million Catholics among 450 million non-Catholics are something like the handful of Christians struggling for their faith in the vast empire of Rome. The Government of India is extending all possible help and facilities to the Eucharistic Congress to ensure its success. This God-given opportunity to publicise Christ to the millions in the East and other parts of the world cannot be allowed to just pass by."10

8. Brahmachari Vishwanathji: A Survey of Christian Missionary Activities in Andhra Pradesh, p. 1.

9. Jaswant Rai Gupta: Role of Foreign Money in Conversion of Hindus, p. 6.

10. H. V. Seshadri: Christian Missions in Bharat — Some Questions to Pope, p. 5.

     The above declaration throws light on the suicidal policy ' of appeasement towards the Christian missionaries by the pseudo- secular government of Hindusthan. The fanatic Christian proselytisers consider the anti-national policy of the Government of India as God-given opportunity to publicise Christ!

     The real purpose of the Christian missions in Bharat is not mere propagation of their religious faith. They nefariously aim to destroy Hinduism. Vedanta Kesari of September 1955 carried the statement of a Roman Catholic missionary found in a Tamil publication wherein he says that the central policy of the Catholic Church is the destruction of Hinduism. He has described the Roman Catholic Church as the "Time Bomb" which had been waiting for blowing up Hinduism.11

     In 1954, Dr.M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi, ex-chairman Public Service Commission, Madhya Pradesh, and retired chief justice, High Court of Judicature at Nagpur was appointed by the Government of Madhya Pradesh as chairman of an Enquiry Committee to have a thorough enquiry into the Christian missionary activities. He along with other members submitted the report in 1956. He categorically states in his report: "In 'Christian Missions in rural India', it was proposed to convert 6,00,000 villages to overcome the forces of secularism of exaggerated nationalism, communism and material, industrialism. The Ecumenical Movement follows the same line. Rev. Mc Leish, a trustee of the World Dominion Press which maintains a close liaison with the International Missionary Council, proposed the conversion of 6,00,000 villages (of India) in the course of ten years."12

     Francis Xavier once declared: "I order everywhere the temples pulled down and all idols broken. I know not how to describe in words the joy I feel before the spectacle of pulling down and destroying the idols."13

11. H.V. Seshadri: Christian Missions in Bharat, p. 6.

12. (i) Justice Dr. M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi: Report of the Christian

Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 140. (ii) World Christian Handbook, 1952, p. 194.

13. Masurashram Patrika, English monthly, Bombay, edited by Brahmachari Vishwanathji, September 1985, p. 2.

     It is astonishing that if a Hindu bows to a statue of Sri Ram or Sri Krishna, he is called an idolater, but when a Christian kneels before a statue of Christ or Virgin Mary, he is admired as the follower of a true religion. If a Hindu worships a statue of Hanuman and circumambulates it, he is labelled as an idolater; but when a Muslim prostrates to the Black Stone (Sang-e-Aswad) at the Kaba and circumambulates it, he is appreciated as a worshipper of true God. If a Hindu bathes in the river Ganges (Ganga) and takes its water for ablutions, he is dubbed as superstitious; but when a Christian seeks cure from the water at Lourdes, and a Muslim takes water of the Zam Zam at Kaba for ablutions, they are considered as spiritualists.

     The American T.V. programme presented by the Dayspring International, an American evangelical organisation, on January 5, 1985 is an eye-opener to every Hindu, specially Hindu politician. It was an extra-ordinary two-hour programme on Manhattan's Cable Television net work. While extolling the virtues of Christianity sky-high, the American evangelical organisation depicted Hinduism as a religion that has perpetrated extreme prejudice and bigotry among Indians. According to them, Bharat, a land of division, despair and death, is in dire need of the message of Jesus Christ, the only saviour of mankind. The "Gospel of Christ" is the only hope for the hapless Hindus left without spiritual hope and who are ready to embrace Christianity and learn the true meaning of life. "India has 664 million Hindus", pointed out the T.V. commentator, mocking at the Hindu mode of religious observances, "whose gods number millions. There is no fixed system of worship. Some pray, others meditate, and still others make blood sacrifice, until they achieve spiritual perfection or reincarnation".

     The Dayspring International lamented, "Though Christianity has been in India for nearly 2,000 years, we have less than three per cent of the population. Ninety seven per cent are yet to be reached." They also disclosed their plan to "reach" — another word for proselytisation — all of Bharat in a decade!

     The T.V. programme was accompanied by an appeal for donations to help in their "mission of relieving the Indian people of their pain and misery".

     During the course of the TV programme, the Dayspring International also quoted Lady Teresa saying, "There is no solution to the problem of Indian people apart from the Gospel of Christ."14

     Cardinal Gracias, the Pope's deputy in Hindusthan also once bemoaned: "It is a matter of grave concern for us that hardly three per cent of the local population in India could so far be drawn to receive the grace of Christ over the last several centuries."

     Very recently in January 1993, a group of Newzealand anglicans under the leadership of Mr. Paul Saunders came to Bharat to propagate Christianity. He bewailed with astonishment: "Ninety per cent of India is Hindu, and there is an incredible lack of knowledge about Christianity. While the Christian faith has been in India for a long time, only three per cent are Christians."

     What is Ecumenical Movement? It is a world-wide Christian movement to unify all the Christian churches in the world to accelerate the speed of proselytisation. Though historically it is linked with Protestantism, yet it is, at present, espoused by the Catholic Church headed by the Pope. In a book entitled, The Christian Churches in Kerala written by Rev. Father Inchakkabodi with a foreword by Cardinal Parekkattil, the author explains the need for the Ecumenical Movement in India as under: "It has to be stated with great anguish that the present divided state of affairs among the Christian Churches is one that renders it impossible for us to work for the proselytisation of many crores of non-Christians of our motherland — India. There is no doubt that if all the Christians work in unison, the conversion of non-Christians is so very easy... There are about twenty seven lakhs of Christians in Kerala — both Syrian Catholics and Latin Catholics

14. H.V. Seshadri: Christian Missions in Bharat — Some Questions to Pope, p. 12.

included. If all these twenty seven lakh Catholics try with one mind, it will be very easy to bring the remaining twelve lakh non-Catholic Christians to the fold of Catholic Church. That will mean that about forty lakhs of Christians in Kerala will come under the protection of one Shepherd. Not only that, then they will be in a position to work hard and in unison for the conversion of the non-Christians of the rest of India, and form a "Christian India" in the near future."15

     The sole objective of the missionary schools and colleges is to influence the impressionable minds of Hindu children, westernise their thoughts, then convert them to Christianity and finally turn them anti-Indian. The world conference of missionary councils stated unequivocally, "Care should be taken to secure that evangelism has central place in all medical and educational institutions." Richter expressed unambiguously the aim and object of Christian missions as under: "Missions have neither a call, nor a mandate to teach English literature, history, mathematics or natural science. The preaching of the Gospel to heathen and the exercise of pastoral care over the relative churches is the head and front of all missionary labour; and everything must be considered as pure waste which does not directly further this end."

     Gandhiji often quoted General Booth of the Salvation Army writing to his son: "The social work is the bait, but it is salvation that is the hook that lands the fish".

     Thus it is crystal clear that the claim of the Pope and his henchmen that service of the poor is their sole objective, is false, fabricated and deceitful. Many a time, Christian proselytisers have confessed in their unguarded moments: "We have not come here for any philanthropical work. Our schools, our colleges, hospitals and maternity homes are all weapons to convert an overwhelming Hindu majority."

15. (i) Rev. Father Inchakkabodi: Christian Churches in Kerala, pp. 282, 331. (ii) H.V. Seshadri: Christian Missions in Bharat — Some Questions to Pope, pp. 20-21.

3. Scheduled Castes — Special Targets

     The weaker sections of the Hindu community, namely the Harijans, the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other depressed classes easily fall prey to conversion. In other words, they are special targets of aggressive evangelisation. The cunning proselytisers exploit their acute poverty, illiteracy ignorance and helplessness, and convert them to Christianity by the dint of force, fraud and temptation, and they term it as "Liberation Theology". They boast that they liberate the weaker sections of Hindu society from the so called cruel clutches of the upper castes. They unequivocally state: "It is our conviction that the 100 million scheduled castes and the 60 million scheduled tribes in India are now in an hour of crisis, and Christ is the radical answer to this multi-dimensional crisis .... The scheduled castes and scheduled tribes are, as a community, responding to the spirit of Christ's invitation to enter the Saving Covenant with Him."

     Untouchability is a sin — a crime. It is undoubtedly a stigma on Hindu society. It is a social evil which has gripped Hindu community. It is a cancer in the body of Hindu society. If it is not eradicated, it may prove fatal to the very existence of Hindu community. What is the remedy? We, the Hindus, should fight tooth and nail against untouchability and eradicate it completely. We ought to inject a feeling of common brotherhood, a sense of fraternity and treat all the members of Hindu society with brotherly love and affection on equal terms in all spheres of life. Hindu reformers and Hindu organisations are leaving no stone unturned to wipe out this evil. The untouchability has been banished by the law of the land. The principle of equality of opportunities, as guaranteed by the Constitution of Bharat, has been willingly accepted by all. However, natural change in the behaviour of the conservatives in the rural areas is yet to come. But there is no doubt that the Hindu society realises the gravity of the situation and is making Herculean efforts to wipe out the stigma of untouchability and inequality. But the question is whether non-Hindus (Christians and Muslims) are not entitled to combat untouchability. The answer is 'no'. It is the grave concern of Hindus and Hindu society. It is our internal affair. We should tackle it. If the Christians claim that they should combat untouchability among Hindus by converting untouchables to Christianity, they betray not only the cause but also the Hindus, Hinduism and Hindusthan. They have no right to interfere in our internal affairs. Conversion of the scheduled castes to Christianity or Islam is not the solution of the problem at all. Had it been so, partition of the country would not have driven millions of Dalit brethren from East Bengal (Pakistan, now Bangladesh) to West Bengal, (Hindusthan). They were subjected to untold tortures and tyrannies. They spurned all promises of safety and security and did not renounce their ancestral faith. They tearfully bade adieu to their ancestral homes and sought refuge in Hindusthan to save their religion. Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the architect of our Constitution, rejected Christianity or Islam as an alternative and took recourse to Lord Buddha who was a son of the soil. Buddhist religion is an Indian religion. It poses no threat to the integrity and solidarity of the country. Dr. B.R. Ambedkar forbade his followers from embracing either Islam or Christianity. He severely snubbed the alien proselytisers who extended their invitation to him for conversion to their faith. He categorically admonished his followers that their conversion to Christianity or Islam was not the solution of the problem. On the contrary their choice of Christianity or Islam as an alternative would denationalise them and the motherland would run the risk of further disintegration.

     In a reply to a question whether Christians are not entitled to combat untouchability, Gandhiji said: "Not only are the Christians entitled, but it is their duty to combat untouchability in their own midst. But if the question is that Christians should combat untouchability in Hinduism, my answer is that they simply cannot do it, because untouchables of Hinduism should not be untouchables of Christians. The anti-untouchability movement means weaning Hindus from their error. This cannot be effectively done by non-Hindus, even as Hindus cannot bring about religious reform among Christians and Mussalmans. If the question means that Christians should combat untouchability among Hindus by converting untouchables to Christianity, they do not advance the cause in any shape or form; the cause being reformation among caste Hindus. If the latter repented of their sin, the Harijans would be delivered from the yoke of untouchability in a moment. Conversion can never do it. It can only add to the prevailing bitterness and introduce a disturbing factor in a situation which is already bad."16

     Let a sense of pride and not of shame pervade our whole being, when we proudly declare that we are Hindus. Let an iron determination to eradicate this abominable stigma of untouchability characterise our thought and action. It is a matter of solace and joy, glee and glory that Hindu society, notwithstanding all the shocks and quakes of twelve hundred years of the wicked reign of terror, torture and tyranny, is still alive in the country with 85 per cent population. Khawja Altaf Hussain "Hali", the renowned poet of Urdu, candidly admits that the ship of Arabian Islam that traversed triumphantly all the seven oceans of the world, at last sank in the river Ganges (Ganga) of Hindusthan. In other words, he admits unequivocally that Islam that conquered and converted many countries, could not convert all Hindus of Hindusthan. He laments:

t^uC ft L.\J\ f J* \ft

&' a: (? * & or a* ~

" A c if u: kty is,»,

16. Harijan, English weekly, (founded by M.K. Gandhi), Madras, April 20, 1934.

zft ^ft-?in>3ft «ft IWM ^?t

ftvn} ftnre>i 3rewT-t*-3n?nT ^ vfbsrt

fifci* <h*jr Dim} mzt wgy

"The invulnerable ship of Arabian Islam

That touched all sea-shores of the globe

That confronted no danger, no disaster

That faced no obstruction

Either in the sea of Oman

Or in the sea of Qulzam

That traversed triumphantly

All the seven oceans

At last sank in the Ganges."17

— Hali

     Let each Hindu say with pride and privilege: "This Hindu society, replete wjth merits and demerits, is mine and my own. I have to treat each Hindu as my own brother and will not look down upon him, however fallen and frivolous he may be. After all there is blood relation between us. Hence instead of despising him, I shall endeavour to reform him, uplift him, elevate him and embrace him as admonished by the Holy Vedas":

Ye, learned men, Uplift the fallen again.

— Rig Veda 10-137-1

17. Khawja Altaf Hussain "Hali": Musaddas-e-Hali,. in Urdu, published by Taj Company Ltd. Lahore, p. 37.

4. Demand for Scheduled Castes Benefits for Converts to Christianity

     More than 90 per cent converts to Christianity belong to the depressed classes and after conversion they continued to remain depressed and down-trodden socially and economically. They remained as backward and illiterate as they were before. The Christian missionaries enticed the ignorant and illiterate Hindu scheduled castes that their conversion to Christianity would result in elevation of their social and economic standard, and they would heave a sigh of relief. But their promises proved false. They failed miserably to elevate the newly-converted scheduled castes to a status equal to that of other citizens, specially Christians. Their conversion did not benefit them even in the slightest degree except that they received a few coins, clothes and commodities as a bait in the beginning. Thus their change of religion did not prove a change for their upliftmcnt. The famines and plagues were a "blessing in disguise" to the Christian missionaries as long as the scheduled castes were in Hindu fold. After they embraced Christianity, they were left in the lurch. Consequently they died of starvation and epidemics as Christians. The only benefit they received from Christianity is that they have been alienated from their kith and kin, from their ancestral culture and civilization and turned into stooges of the Christian Church for the disintegration ot their motherland.

     Moreover at the time of converting the hapless backward Hindus, the cunning proselytisers boasted that there was no caste system and no backward in Christianity and that all converts would enjoy and avail of equal rights and opportunities and that they would no more be considered as backward, depressed or scheduled caste. All their brags and boasts vanished in the wind and they were exposed as deceitful, treacherous, betrayers and hypocrites. Now they are demanding shamelessly from the Government of Hindusthan that Indian scheduled caste Christians be granted constitutional recognition as scheduled castes, and benefits in the matter of education and employment available to Hindu scheduled castes be extended to the Christian scheduled castes.

     The Christian Dalit Liberation Movement, Vellore, in a two-day seminar held in Delhi on April 30, 1990 vociferously demanded from the Government of Bharat that Christian scheduled castes be given benefits and facilities at par with other scheduled castes in the matter of education and employment. The United Christians Movement for Equal Rights recently gave a memorandum to the Prime Minister of Hindusthan urging the secular (nay, pseudo-secular) government . to extend the benefits granted to the Neo-Buddhists, also to the scheduled castes converted to Christianity. In the said memorandum, they stated that out of 16 million Christians in India, 50 per cent are scheduled caste Christians.

     It is a matter of anguish, agony and amazement that V.P. Singh, the then Prime Minister of Hindusthan, abjectly pampered the Christians and Muslims to garner their votes by giving statement in Parliament that facilities extended to the scheduled castes converts to Buddhism, would also be extended to Christian scheduled castes and followers of other religions. It is nothing but shameless display of pseudo-secularism!

5. Foreign Aid and Assistance

     Proselytising activities are carried on in Bharat under the guidance and assistance of international Christian organisations, which are aided and abetted by western countries to revive Christendom with the sole object of re-establishing western supremacy in Hindusthan and other Asian countries. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi corroborates the point in his report: "Evangelization in India appears to be a part of uniform world policy to revive Christendom for re-establishing western supremacy and is not prompted by spiritual motives. The objective is apparently to create Christian majority pockets with a view to disrupt the solidarity of the non-Christian societies, and the mass conversion of a considerable section of Adivasis with this ulterior motive is fraught with danger to the security of the State."18

18. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee. Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 132.

     The Christian missionaries run schools, colleges, hospitals and orphanages in Bharat not for selfless social service but to allure and entice poor, illiterate and innocent Hindus for conversion to Christianity. They offer food, clothes and even cash to entrap their victims. They receive huge sums of money from western countries to perform the colossal anti-national task of proselytisation in thousands of villages of Hindusthan. But for the foreign money they cannot carry on their nefarious activities. Dr. Niyogi expresses the same idea unequivocally in his report: "Enormous sums of foreign money flow into the country for missionary work comprising educational, medical and evangelistic activities. It was out of such funds received from abroad that in Surguja, the Lutherians and other proselytising agencies were able to secure nearly 4,000 converts."19

     Dr. Niyogi states: "From January 1950 to June 1954, a sum of Rs. 29.27 crore had been received by Christian missionaries in India. The amounts donated by various foreign countries are as follows:

                                                                                                          Rs.

USA                                                                                  20,68,63,000

Canada                                                                                1,67,56,000

Belgium                                                                                     6,47,000

Denmark                                                                                 33,91,000

France                                                                                      7,61,000

Germany                                                                                  11,16,000

Norway                                                                                    27,97.000

Sweden                                                                                      64,41,000

Switzerland                                                                                15,77,000

Aid received from the non-sterling area                                      14,72,000

                                        Total                                          24,18,21,000

From sterling area UK                                                              4,83,89,000

Rest of the sterling area                                                                25,29,000                                        5,09,18,000

Grand Total                                                                                                                                         29,27,39,000

19 Justice Dr MB. Niyogi: Report at the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 131

     This was the information supplied by the Government of India based on the figures compiled from the statistics maintained by the Reserve Bank."20

     The readers may kindly keep in view the value of a rupee during the period of 1950-1954. The amount of Rs. 29.27 crore received during the period of 1950-54 is roughly equal to more than 1,000 crore of rupees of to-day. This amount was remitted by the foreign countries officially with the knowledge of Reserve Bank of Bharat. What must be the sums of money remitted secretly without the knowledge of Reserve Bank or other concerned authorities?

     In the report, Dr. Niyogi further reveals: "In our exploratory tour, it was disclosed by Rev. Lakra at Kusmi on 10th June, 1954 at the morning session that in the year 1953 he had received Rs. 60,000 for five provinces from the Lutheran World Federation at Geneva and that through the American Board of this Lutheran Mission, he obtained Rs. 90,000."21

     The most important question arises here whether Hindu ruling politicians of independent Hindusthan were aware of the huge sums of money pouring into the country, if yes, what concrete action was taken by them to stop the unlawful and illegal inflow of foreign funds? The answer to the question is: They were fully aware, but they miserably failed to take any drastic action in this matter, except airy and empty announcement. Even Gandhiji, the ipso facto ruler of the Indian National Congress, was fully aware of the sordid situation. He once exclaimed: "Mammon has been sent to serve India and God has remained behind."22

     Vidyacharan Shukla, the then home minister of Hindusthan had announced in Parliament that 114 registered missions and 4,214 registered priests were actively working in Bharat,

20. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 96.

21. Ibid.

22. (i) Ibid., p. 139.

(ii) Christian Missions, Navajivan Press, p. 245.

and that the foreign aid received by them from the western countries was as under:

                                                                                                         Rs.

1. Britain                                                                                   4,03,000.00

2. Australia                                                                                     9,000.00

3. Malaysia                                                                                     3,000.00

4. America                                                                                 5,39,000.00

5. Canada                                                                                     47,000.00

6. West Germany                                                                          73,000.00

7. Switzerland                                                                               19,000.00

     Y.B. Chavan, the then home minister of Hindusthan, admitted in Parliament on July 13, 1970: "The government has come to the conclusion that foreign money has adversely affected the political, economic and cultural life of our country. We shall have to find out how this has been occurring."

     Kanwarlal Gupta, a former BJP Member of Parliament, revealed in an interview to Onlooker, English fortnightly of July 16-31, 1982 that under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act 1976, about 5000 organisations had been receiving foreign aid with the knowledge of the government. He further stated that foreign money had posed a great danger to the integrity and solidarity of the country. He provided the fortnightly with a list of 85 foreign countries from where the funds had poured in. An amount of about Rs. 200 crore was received in the year 1980 only. He gave a list of Muslim organisations in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and Christian organisations in Karnataka, and also a list of foreign associations from whom the said Indian organisations had received foreign money. It was the influx of huge foreign funds which had accelerated the speed of proselytisation activities in southern Hindusthan. The Onlooker had published all the facts and figures provided by Kanwarlal Gupta. But it is a serious matter of immense anguish and agony that the Congress Government of Hindusthan paid no heed to the hues and cries of the patriots and failed miserably to take any drastic action to stop the illegal inflow of foreign funds.

     According to Indian Express, Delhi, dated September 23, 1986, it was revealed by the government that the amount of Rs. 230 crore was received from abroad every year by the registered organisations in India for religious and social services and that out of these organisations, more than two thousand were Christian organisations. It was also disclosed by the government that the foreign money flowed into Bharat from the United States of America, Europe and the Arab countries. The paper said that Christian and Muslim organisations in India received foreign funds ostensibly for religious, educational and social services but they were misusing it for anti-national activities of proselytisation.

     On May 3, 1984, Kailash Pali Mishra, Member of Rajya Sabha (BJP), raised a question in the Upper House, as to how much foreign money was received by Christian organisations in Bihar and Gujarat during 1980-1982. He also wanted to know the names of the recipient organisations and the foreign countries that remitted the funds. The reply was given by the government that facts and figures were being collected. After two years on July 22, 1986, Shri Mishra again reminded the government of his question in Rajya Sabha. The government informed him on the floor of the upper House of Parliament that during the span of three years between 1980 and 1982, the amounts of Rs. .1,30,21,922 and Rs. 40,79,008 were received from foreign countries in Bihar and Gujarat respectively. The government further disclosed that the said money was received from 16 foreign countries: America, Britain, Australia, West Germany, Holland, Italy, Ireland, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, Maxico, France, Norway, Denmark, Sweden and Belgium.

     Yogendra Makwana, the then home minister of state, informed Lok Sabha that five thousand Christian religious missions and Muslim social organisations received the amount of Rs. 124 crore from foreign countries in 1977. According to Blitz, English weekly (Bombay) of July 1981, R.V. Swaminathan, the then Union agriculture minister of state disclosed in Madurai that an educational institution of Tiruchchirappalli received Rs. three crore from an Arab country.

     On December 13, 1954, the then home minister of Hindusthan had informed Lok Sabha that during the period between January 1950 and June 1954, Christian missionaries had received Rs. 29.27 crore from foreign countries. Under PL-480 agreement, America sold Bharat, wheat worth Rs. 30,000 crore, forty per cent of which was utilised by the Christian missionaries for proselytisation of Hindus to Christianity.

According to Reserve Bank, the foreign money received from abroad in 1977 was as under:

                                                                                                            Rs.

West Germany                                                                       44,35,57,858

America                                                                                   2,35,49,377

Italy                                                                                       15,04,49,377

Britain                                                                                    10,38,24,132

Saudi Arabia                                                                               50,94,177

Iran                                                                                             45,18,436

Total                                          73,09,93,357

     In addition to above countries, 48 other countries sent about Rs. 77 crore to Bharat in 1977. Thus in 1977, the total amount of money received from foreign countries was about Rs. 150 crore.

     The details of the money received in Bharat from foreign countries during the period 1980-1986 are as under:

                                                                                                               Rs.

1980                                                                                          209.11 crore

1981                                                                                          230.46 crore

1982                                                                                          223.78 crore

1983                                                                                           Not available

1984                                                                                           253.98 crore

1985                                                                                           317.51 crore

1986                                                                                           438.27 crore

     Shri Chidambaram, the then Union minister of state for home affairs, informed Parliament: "In India there are more than ten thousand registered organisations that receive more than 434 crore rupees as donation every year from foreign countries for carrying on their religious activities." He also endorsed the view that in addition to the above amount, enormous sums of foreign money flow into the country illegally through smuggling.23

     It is a matter of grave concern that of all the countries in the world, Hindusthan is the only country where foreign money amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees is received every year by Christian and Muslim proselytisers for proselytisation of Hindus and the government is silent spectator of the havocs rendered by the anti national secessionist proselytisers! Huge sums of foreign money are misused for destruction of economic, political and cultural life of Hindus and disintegration of the motherland, but the government is helplessly watching the sordid situation. Why do the ruling Hindu politicians not adopt drastic measures to ban the inflow of foreign funds and conversion of Hindus in Hindusthan? In spite of being fully aware 6f the critical situation, they feel reluctant to take concrete action because they do not want to incur the wrath of Muslim and Christian voters. Thus they have openly adopted a policy of appeasement towards the minorities at the cost of integration of the country and survival of majority community. The pseudo-secular Hindu politicians and their Hindu stooges should note that in 1947, there were only 70 lakh Christians. Their number rose to about two crore in 1991, Sixty per cent of the Christians live in four provinces of southern Hindusthan. Hindus are reduced to a minority and the Christians have gained majority at the birth place of Adi Shankaracharya. Hindus may lose majority in Kerala in the near future. According to 1991 census, the Christians form 85.73 per cent of the population in Mizoram, 87.47 per cent in Nagaland

23. Jaswant Rai Gupta: Role of Foreign Money in Conversion of Hindus, pp. 6-16.

and 64.58 per cent in Meghalaya. Hindus, the majority community of Hindusthan, have already lost their majority in these three states. The Christians in these three states have been indulging in violent secessionist activities. They no longer want to remain in Hindusthan. They want their own separate sovereign state outside the territories of Hindusthan. Thus, they have posed a great danger to the integrity of the country. This is the horrendous consequence of conversion of innocent tribal Hindus to Christianity by the dint of foreign money! Had the pseudo-secular Hindu ruling politicians flung away the cloak of pseudo-secularism in 1947 and imposed a ban on the inflow of foreign money in Hindusthan and conversion of Hindus to Christianity and Islam, we would not have seen the present critical juncture.

     It is still not too late to awake, arise and act. At present an area of 36,000 square miles of Hindusthan is under the nefarious influence of Christian missionaries. If Hindus did not awake in time to compel the ruling Hindu politicians to ban the proselytising activities of Christians as well as Muslims, the whole of truncated Hindusthan would be transformed into Christianistan (Christendom) and another Pakistan. In that case, Hindus would be permanent slaves in their own ancestral land.

     The Christian missionaries have divided Hindusthan into 109 dioceses (ecclesiastical districts) for proselytising activities. Each diocese is under the jurisdiction of a bishop. All the bishops are acting under the guidance and assistance of 76 foreign Christian countries. Each diocese is adopted by a foreign Christian country. In Hindusthan, there are about 200 Christian educational organisations or centres, which prepare six new missionaries everyday. The total number of Christian missionaries in Bharat is 72,237. Every fortnight, a new Christian organisation comes into existence. All this colossal work is not possible without huge sums of foreign money. Nearly 350 crores of rupees flow in Bharat every year from foreign countries for converting Hindus, the majority community. The foreign countries pretend that they are remitting money for the upliftment of the poor villagers.

If their intention is pure, why don't they send the money to the Government of Bharat? Why do they send it directly to Christian missionaries'? The malicious statements of the secessionist proselytisers narrated in previous pages categorically indicate that their sole aim of remitting huge sums of money to Hindusthan is to revive Christendom and re-establish western supremacy in truncated Hindusthan. Justice Dr. Niyogi endorses the point and x-rays the real intention of America in his report: "As the United States has no territory abroad, she tries to compensate for this by establishing military bases and military alliances (page 22, Christianity and Asian Revolution). It appears that by this drive of proselytization in India, she desires to create psychological bases. The persons who came before us expressed such suspicions about American aims very strongly."24

6. Policy of Appeasement towards Christian Missionaries

     But for the sinister and suicidal policy of appeasement towards Christian missionaries adopted by the pseudo-secular ruling politicians of Hindusthan, the Christian proselytisers could not have converted lakhs of innocent illiterate poor Hindus to Christianity and succeeded in establishing Christendom in three states of North-East: Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya. The ruling politicians of Hindusthan not only bluntly refused to impose a ban on the conversion of Hindus to Christianity and Islam, but also they provided the minorities with constitutional guarantee to propagate their religion. They went one step further, and invited twice in 1964 and 1986 the supreme head of the Christian religion, the Pope, to visit Bharat to boost the proselytisation efforts by Christian missionaries. When S.N. Katju, the then president of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, questioned, "Why should the secular government of Bharat invite the Pope, the religious head of Catholic Christian community, incurring wasteful expenditure of crores of rupees?", the spokesman of. the Government

24. Justice Dr. M.8. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I; p. 147.

replied that the Pope was being invited as the head of a state, the Vatican, not as a religious head. The argument was flimsy. The Vatican state is a small part of the city of Rome, having an area of 190 acres only. Even a small village of Bharat is bigger than that. It is the property of the Central Church of the Catholics. Mussolini went out of the way and showed extra sympathy to the Catholics by granting independent status to it. It was not an important political state on the map of the globe, the head of which deserved an invitation by the second largest democratic country of the world having a population of 70 crore. Even an ordinary man of common sense will feel that the excuse of our government that the Pope was being invited as the king of the Vatican, and not as religious head, was hollow within and without.

     The historians of the world have recorded the most gruesome and ghastly deeds of the Jesuits. Who are Jesuits? They are the avant-garde (Advance groups) of the Roman Catholics. Their violent activities are supported and financed by the Pope, the so-called king of the Vatican. American President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by the Jesuits. The notorious CIA spy "Father" Ferror who actively indulged in proselytising activities in Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh under the protection of the Catholic Church was a Jesuit. Thus, the king of the violent Jesuits was invited by our pseudo-secular government incurring the expenditure of crores of rupees, which a poor country like ours could not afford.

     Let us brood over the inimical attitude of our government to the invitation to a Hindu king to visit Hindusthan. King Mahendra of Nepal was invited to participate in the Makar Sankranti function at Nagpur which was organised in 1965 by the RSS on behalf of the entire Hindu community. The Hindu king of Nepal joyfully accepted the invitation and announced his visit to Nagpur. But the Congress Government of Bharat despised the idea of a Hindu king participating in a Hindu function in Hindusthan. Hence, it disallowed King Mahendra from paying a visit to Nagpur. King Mahendra had to regretfully cancel his announced programme of visiting Hindusthan. Similarly, the present king of Nepal, Shri Birendra was also not allowed by our government to worship at Rameshwaram. Is it not the height of pseudo-secularism?

     Brahmachari Vishwanathji unambiguously exposes the policy of appeasement towards the Christian missionaries adopted by the Andhra Pradesh government headed by Vijaya Bhaskar Reddy as under: "The Jesuits openly pay compliments to the Andhra Pradesh state government as 'the most friendly towards the Christians than many of the other Indian state governments'. It is of common knowledge that the ill-famed Spanish Jesuit, Vincent Ferror, who was externed from Maharashtra as an "undesirable" person and wars for some time banished from India, was shamelessly given asylum by the Reddy government- in Andhra Pradesh to freely proselytise the depressed classes and poverty-ridden people and all his misdeeds of smuggling, black-marketing and embezzlements of public funds have been all along condoned by the government. Andhra Pradesh is the only state in the Indian Union, which has agreed to continue the concessions available to scheduled class Hindus to the Christian converts."25

     Almost all the newly-liberated countries in Africa and Asia, except the unfortunate country of Hindusthan, have not only adopted the religion of the majority as the State Religion, but also banned the proselytisation activities of the aliens. The Christian missionaries are not allowed entry in Egypt, Afghanistan and the Middle-East Arab countries. In several African countries, not only the missionaries are banned, but even the churches are demolished and the converts, persuaded to return to their ancestral faith. Will the pseudo-secular Hindu ruling politicians awake and act only when all the provinces of Hindusthan follow the suit of Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya, reducing Hindus to minority?

     Why do the Hindu ruling politicians not ban the proselytising activities of the Christian missionaries and Muslim

25. Brahmachari Vishwanathji: A Survey of Christian Missionary Activities in Andhra Pradesh, p. 25.

fundamentalists? Because they want to use (nay, misuse) the religious minorities as their vote-banks. Under the umbrella of secularism (nay, pseudo-secularism) they pamper and patronise the religious minorities (Christians and Muslims) in order to enable themselves to reach the citadels of political power. Thus, they have developed a vested interest in bestowing a preferential treatment on the religious minorities and have formed minority cells and minority commissions to appease them — rather encourage them to carry on conversion of Hindus to their faith fearlessly. This suicidal policy of appeasement will one day result in destruction of Hindu culture, Hindu ethos and finally the very existence of Hindus, Hinduism and Hindusthan.

     Many short-sighted docile Hindu politicians do not realise the seriousness of the sordid situation. The problem of secessionism coupled with terrorism in the north-east is the consequence of proselytising activities of Christian missionaries. The anti-national agitation of the converted Christians resulted in the fragmentation of Assam. Our pseudo-secular government encouraged the Christian proselytisers by granting constitutional guarantee to proselytise innocent illiterate tribal Hindus to Christianity. Consequently Hindus in some sectors of the north-east were reduced to minority. When the newly-converted Christians attained majority, they resorted to secessionism and agitated for separate sovereign states of their own. The power-crazy ruling politicians did not want to lose the votes of the Christians. Hence, they succumbed to the anti-national agitation of the secessionists and carved out seven small states in the north-east, the most sensitive part of the country. Today, Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya are Christian states for all practical purposes. The non-Christians (Hindus) are subjected to terror, tyranny and torture. Nagaland has adopted English as its official language and India is referred to by the Nagas as "a foreign country". Certain districts of Assam are transformed into Muslim-majority zones by Bangladeshi infiltrators. Thus the holy motherland (already truncated) is again confronted with the problem of secessionism of the pre-partition days.

     In the five states of the north-east, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Meghalaya, it is the Christian Church which wields political power. The elections to the legislative assemblies are contested under the guidance and patronage of the Church, which receives instructions from the Church of England and Rome. Thus, foreign Church holds sway in the north-east sector of the so-called secular Bharat. The readers will be stunned and agonised to know that in the elections to Mizoram Assembly in 1989, the Congress-I, the self-styled secular political party, headed by Rajiv Gandhi, being pressurised by the Church, declared in its election manifesto that if it was voted to power, it would establish in Mizoram a government in conformity with the Biblical tenets! Is it not pseudo-secularism? Can the Congressmen still claim that they are secularists?

     The ruling politicians hoodwink the gullible Hindus of Hindusthan by the dint of the slogan sarva dharma sam bhav (equal respect for all religions). Will the Christian missionaries and Islamic fundamentalists be ready to accord equal respect to other religions and sincerely declare their belief in sarva dharma sam bhav? Not at all. They declare at the top of their voice that only their religion is the best and all others are heathens to be saved from damnation by the dint of proselytisation. You cannot clap with one hand. For clapping, you require both hands. One-sided utterance of .sarva dharma sam bhav will not yield the desired result. If the Christian missionaries and Muslim fundamentalists sincerely believe in sarva dharma sam bhav, they will not feel the necessity of converting Hindus to their faith. Since their nefarious task of conversion of Hindus is in full swing, they do not practise in accordance with true spirit of sarva dharma sam bhav. If they ostensibly chant the said slogan, without stopping their anti-national activities of proselytisation, they should not be relied upon. They should be considered as wolves in sheep's clothing.

     In 1954, the government of Madhya Pradesh under Resolution No. 318-716-V-Con., dated 14th April, 1954, appointed an enquiry committee under the chairmanship of Dr. M. Bhawani Shankar Niyogi, ex-chairman, public service commission, Madhya Pradesh, and a retired chief justice, High Court of Judicature at Nagpur, to have a thorough enquiry into the Christian missionary activities. In 1956, Dr. Niyogi submitted his report and recommended very strong measures including constitutional amendments, so as to seal the loopholes in the secular system, imposition of a ban on proselytisation and inflow of foreign funds and banishing of all anti-national Christian missionaries from the sacred soil of Hindusthan. But alas! The Union Government did not pay heed to the valuable recommendations made by Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi and continued its sinister suicidal policy of appeasement towards the religious minorities with the result that today Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya are Christian majority states and the newly-converted Christians, who were once Hindus, being instigated by the Church, have posed a serious threat to the integrity and security of Hindusthan by resorting to secessionism.

     Shri Omprakash Tyagi presented a "Freedom of Religion Bill" in Parliament. It recommended that there should be no conversion from one religion to another. There was nothing objectionable in the bill which treated all religions alike. It did no injustice to any religion. It was drafted on the principle of sarva dharma sam bhav (equal respect for all religions). But alas! Our pseudo-secular government succumbed to the pressure of the Church and the Islamic fundamentalists, and the most needed piece of legislation was thwarted. The ruling politicians condemned the bill on the plea that it was incompatible with the right to propagate religion as enshrined in our Constitution. The pseudo-secularists little realised that if the minority on whose votes they built their political career, once managed to become majority by the dint of proselytisation, their conception of secularism would be buried in deep ditch and they would not only be mercilessly kicked out of the political field, but also they and their posterity would be slaves permanently in their own ancestral land!

7. Right of Religious Propagation Granted by Our Constitution.

     In 1857, the revolutionary freedom-fighters like Tatya Tope, Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and Nanasaheb fought bravely the War of Independence to liberate our motherland from the shackles of slavery of the British. But fate did not favour them. The country was destined to undergo the tortures of slavery for some more years. At last in 1947, we succeeded in liberating our motherland from the clutches of the foreigners. The Christian missionaries, native as well as foreigners, did not participate in the freedom struggle, hence they had guilty conscience. Almost all of them made preparations to leave Bharat and return to England after independence. But in 1950, when the architects of our Constitution made an announcement of inclusion of the fundamental right in the new Constitution to "freely profess, practise and propagate" religion, the Christian missionaries welcomed the Constitution and gave up the idea of returning to England. They succeeded in influencing the makers of our Constitution to give them fundamental right to propagate their religion with complete freedom which was not allowed even during the British rule. Miss M.E. Gibbs, in her History of the Anglican Church in India admits: "Christian influence secured the inclusion, among the fundamental rights in the new Constitution, of the right to 'freely profess, practise and propagate' religion. This was a remarkable concession."26

     Mr. Stephen Neil, who was once Bishop of Tirunelveli, candidly admits in The Story of the Christian Church in India and Pakistan as under: "Some Indian leaders, such as the first Prime Minister of India, Mr. Nehru, had dissociated themselves from any form of religion. ... Seeing their opportunity, the Christian members of the Constituent Assembly by which the Constitution of India was to be determined, came forward with a strong plea for a declaration of religious liberty to be included in that document. Although

26. Brahmachari Vishwanathji: A Survey of Christian Missionary Activities in Andhra Pradesh, p. 23.

they were only a tiny minority, so skilful was their advocacy that an excellent declaration on the subject was included."27

     Let the readers note with anguish that it was Pandit Nehru and his stooges who adopted the suicidal policy of appeasement towards the religious minorities, particularly the proselytisers by granting them fundamental right as enshrined in the Constitution to "freely profess, practise and propagate their religion." What does the word "propagate" mean? Why were the Christian missionaries and Islamic fundamentalists allowed through Constitution to propagate their religion in secular Hindusthan? Why did they not clarify categorically in the Constitution that the religious minorities, i.e. Christian missionaries and Muslim fundamentalists would have no right to convert Hindus'? They should have imposed a ban on the conversion by the dint of Constitution. They miserably failed to do so. On the contrary, they gave them full liberty guaranteed by the Constitution to propagate their religion in secular Bharat. Was it not negation of secularism?

     After independence, those who were at the helm of affairs in free Hindusthan, were blind followers of western ideologies. Consequently, they framed our Constitution after the pattern of western countries. They imitated western thoughts which were not suitable to Bharatvarsh — the sacred land of Sri Ram, Sri Krishna, Shri Gautam, Sri Mahavir, Guru Nanak, Swami Dayananda, Swami Vivekananda and Sri Aurobindo. They did not frame the Constitution of Hindusthan, the land of Hindus, on the basis of indigenous political thoughts contained in Satyarth Prakash, Manu Smriti, Chanakya's Arthashastra, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Upanishads and Vedas. While framing the Constitution, they did not keep in view the golden thoughts of Swami Dayananda, Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo and Veer Savarkar. They failed to act according to "Hinduise all politics, militarise Hindudom" as admonished by Veer Savarkar. On the contrary, Pandit Nehru stubbornly refused to declare Hindusthan as a Hindu State and Hinduism as the State Religion. He declared the country secular and

27. Brahmachari Vishwanathji: A Survey of Christian Missionary Activities in Andhra Pradesh, p. 23.

equated secularism with materialism. He borrowed western ideas in the educational system, legislation, planning, judiciary, administration, medical system, agricultural set up and commercial dealings. Consequently, Bharatvarsh, the sacred land of Rishis and Munis began to drift rapidly towards westernisation. Alas! our westernized Hindu politicians, who were at the helm of affairs, did not pay heed to the serious warning given to us by Swami Vivekananda: "Mark you! If you give up that spirituality leaving it aside, to go after the materialising. civilization of the West, the result will be that in three generations, you will be extinct race!"28

     The architects of our Constitution did not frame the Constitution on the basis of Hindu culture, Hindu ethos and Hindu civilization. But on the contrary, they deliberately provided liberal provisions in our Constitution to facilitate mass conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity. Dr. Niyogi corroborates this idea in his report: "We have already described how money flowed into the Surguja district to effect mass conversions after it was opened to Missionary work, pursuant to the liberal provisions of the Constitution of India.."29

     The Christian missionaries misused the religious liberty accorded to them by our Constitution. They accelerated the speed of mass conversion of poor illiterate Hindus to Christianity. They construed the words of the Constitution "to propagate religion freely" as an unrestricted license to convert Hindus to Christianity freely without any hindrance. They began to claim that it was their fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India to propagate their religion freely among the Hindu tribals and to convert them to Christianity. They threatened that if anybody interfered in their fundamental right, he would be violating the Constitution of India. Thus, they openly resorted to abuse of the religious liberty accorded to them by our Constitution.

28. Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda. Vol. III, p. 153.

29. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh. 1956, Vol. I, p. 143.

Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi describes the situation in his report as under: "The various ways which we have already indicated are nothing short of abuse of "the religious liberty" accorded by the Constitution of India."30

     Under the afore-mentioned critical juncture created by the Christian missionaries, some learned scholars of Jurisprudence and distinguished judges made minute study of our Constitution and exposed its wrong interpretation by the Christian missionaries with ulterior motive. They upheld that right to freely propagate religion is not unrestricted freedom. It is subject to certain restrictions. In this connection, I quote only two luminaries of law, Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi and Justice Chagla. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi explains the relevant Article 25 of the Constitution as under:

     "According to Article 25, all persons are equally entitled to freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion, subject to public order, morality and health. There can be a dispute only on the point of the interpretation of the expression, "propagate any religion." Suffice it to say here that the State will not allow its citizens to do whatever they please in the name and under the guise of religion. Article 25 itself specifies the limits within which religious freedom can be exercised."31

     The interpretation of Article 25 of the Constitution by Shri M.C. Chagla, former Chief Justice of Bombay High Court is also quoted by Justice Niyogi in his report:

     "Although the question relevant to our enquiry regarding religious freedom has probably not come up for decision before our High Courts and the Supreme Court of India, yet the interpretation of Article 25 of the Constitution came before the High Court of Bombay in a different context. And it may not be out of place to quote the following observation from their judgement in Civil Application

30. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 152.

31. Ibid., p. 134.

No. 880 and Miscellaneous Application No. 212 of 1952, dated the 12th September, 1952, reported in A.I.R. 1953, Bombay, page 242. Chagla, the Chief Justice says:

     "(4) It may be said that both Articles 25 and 26 deal with religious freedom, but, as I shall presently point out, religious freedom, as contemplated by our Constitution, is not unrestricted freedom. The religious freedom which has been safeguarded by the Constitution, is religious freedom which must be envisaged in the context of a secular State. It is not every aspect of religion that has been safeguarded, nor has the Constitution provided that every religious activity cannot be interfered with." (Page 244).32

     It may be noted that Article 25 of our Constitution is ambiguous and vague, so far as the interpretation of the words, "to freely propagate religion" is concerned. It was serious lapse on the part of the makers of our Constitution. They should have clarified categorically in the Article 25, that "to freely propagate religion" does not mean conversion of citizens from one religion to another. They should have imposed constitutional ban on conversion of Hindus to Islam and Christianity. Why did they insert the words, "to freely propagate religion", in the Constitution? Did they not know that Christian missionaries and Muslim proselytisers would exploit these liberal provisions? They knew very well that Pakistan came into existence in the provinces where Hindus were reduced to minority on account of conversion by force, fraud and temptation. Being fully aware of the horrendous consequences of conversion of Hindus, they accorded constitutional license to the religious minorities to freely propagate their religion among Hindus, the majority community and convert the latter to alien faith with political motive of creating other Pakistans and Christanislans (Christendom)! Why did Pandit Nehru and his successors. not amend the Constitution, when later on they found that Christian and Muslim proselytisers took undue advantage of it? Dr. Niyogi

32. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 92.

emphatically recommended in his report that the relevant clause in the Constitution should not be left vague and the Constitution might be suitably amended to clarity that the clause, "to freely propagate religion" does not include conversion by force, fraud or illicit means. I reproduce here the relevant para of his report:

     "91. We have already mentioned that in certain quarters, a feeling is entertained that Article 25 of the Constitution of India gives a right to any person including foreigners temporarily residing in India, to propagate his religion and that this right includes the right to secure converts. Whether the right to propagate does or does not include a right to convert has been a matter of great controversy. We consider it desirable that the matter should not be left vague or indefinite and recommend that an amendment of the Constitution may be sought, firstly, to clarify that the right of propagation has been given only to the citizens of India, and secondly, that it does not include conversion brought about by force, fraud or illicit means."33

     Dr. Niyogi was not an ordinary man. He was chairman, Public Service Commission, Madhya Pradesh, and also Chief Justice, High Court of Judicature at Nagpur. He submitted the afore-mentioned report containing strong recommendations for amendment of the Constitution as early as 1956, i.e. during the regime of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. But neither Nehru, nor his successors cared to implement the said recommendations. Thirty nine years have elapsed, but the Constitution is still not amended in accordance with the recommendation of Dr. Niyogi. It indicates categorically that the attitude of our ruling politicians was anti-Hindu, and pro-Christian and pro-Muslim.

     The Christian missionaries not merely claimed that the "right to propagate one's religion" as guaranteed in the Constitution, signified the "right to convert", but also they knocked the doors of High Courts and even Supreme Court

33. Justice Dr. MB. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh. 1956, Vol. I, p. 160.

to see that their "right to convert" is upheld at all costs. When the Madhya Pradesh and Orissa governments enacted the "Freedom of Religion Act" to control proselytisation of poor illiterate Hindus to Christianity, the Christian missionaries challenged them in the High Courts. When they lost the case, they appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also upheld both the Acts as Constitutional and rejected the argument of the Christian missionaries that the "right to propagate one's religion" guaranteed in the Constitution implied the "right to convert". The Chief Justice, Shri A.N. Ray observed in his judgement: "We have no doubt that it is in this sense that the word "propagate" has been used in Article 25(1), for what the Article grants, is not the right to convert another to one's own religion, but to transmit or spread one's religion by an exposition of its tenets. It has to be remembered that Article 25(1) guarantees "freedom of conscience" to every citizen, and not merely to the followers of one particular religion, and that in turn postulates that there is no fundamental right to convert another person to one's own religion, because if a person purposely undertakes the conversion of another person to his religion as distinguished from his effort to transmit or spread the tenets of his religion, that will amount to taking away the "freedom of conscience" guaranteed to all the citizens of the country alike."

     In addition to the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Orissa, the Arunachal Pradesh Government also passed the Freedom of Religion Act in 1978. In spite of all these efforts and also the fact that the right of conversion is not a fundamental right granted under the Constitution, as decided by the Supreme Court, conversions of the poor innocent Hindus to Christianity and Islam have not stopped, because the proselytisers are directly and indirectly supported by the ruling politicians who have got their own axe to grind, i.e. to capture political power by the dint of mass votes of religious minorities. That is why they have been avoiding to impose ban on conversion of Hindus by amending the Constitution. Under this critical juncture, what is the remedy? The only remedy to this problem is: The Hindus of Hindusthan must awake, arise and act to raise a strong voice exposing the duplicity and fraud of the pseudo-secular Hindu ruling politicians and compel them to amend the Constitution for imposing ban on conversion of Hindus to Christianity and Islam. If they don't respond positively for protection of Hindus, the majority community, they should be voted out in the elections. One thing is to be borne in mind that the change ought to be effected through ballots, not bullets. Bullets should be used by the army to defend the integrity of the country.

8. Vile and Vicious Campaign against Hindus and Hinduism

     In spite of strong opposition by Hindus, our pseudo-secular government invited Pope to Bharat in November, 1964. In his very first encyclical, the Pope said unequivocally: "There is but one true religion, the religion of Christianity." What he meant to say was that every other religion including Hinduism was false. Was it not a lack of courtesy and civility on the part of the Pope to utter such words, while he was in Bharat?

     Christianity and Islam divide mankind into two groups: believers and unbelievers, the chosen and the damned. Christian and Muslim proselytisers propagate: "Ours is the only true God, the only true religion. If you embrace our religion, you will achieve salvation. If you cling to your religion, you will be damned." On the other hand Hindus say:

t^> «rg,yr 3jraT g^f^ri

God is One Supreme Reality Whom sages call by various names.

- Rig Veda 1-164 46.

     Christian missionaries and Islamic fundamentalists condemn a Hindu as kafir, infidel, heretic, heathen, pagan, atheist, irreligious and damned. They claim, "God's grace comes through the medium of only our scripture, our religion and our prophet. God does not bless the infidels. They will be thrown into hell." On the other hand, Hinduism preaches:

— 4m/W*\

Oh, Arjuna

God dwells in the hearts

Of all creatures.

— Gita 18-61

     Christian missionaries do not consider non-Christians as human beings. They claim that only those who are Christians deserve to be called humans, while others are animals. They support their claim by quoting two dictionaries: World Book Dictionary, in which "Christian" is defined as "human, not animal", and The Webster's Third New International Dictionary, in which one of the meanings of a "Christian" is "human being as distinguished from a lower animal".

     Christianity considers man as a sinner and Christ as his saviour. Christian missionaries propagate that God's grace descends upon man who is born sinner, only through the saviour Christ. Hence, it is in the interest of the infidels (non-Christians) that they should seek shelter in the lap of Christ and embrace Christianity. They boast that salvation can be achieved only in Christianity, while those who are outside its fold are damned. It means that all the ancestors of the Christians who lived before Christ must be rotting in the Christian hell! Will the Christian missionaries reply whether Christ, the so-called saviour of the believers, saved those Christians who indulged in the fanaticism of the holy wars, who carried on slave trade, who spilled pools of human blood to exterminate native races in America and south-east Asia, who waged wars for a thousand years in Europe, who threw atom bombs on the innocent people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Vedas, the holy scriptures of Hindus proclaim that those who follow divine path of truth, perform noble deeds for the betterment of fellow humans, lead pure life and hurt nobody, will surely achieve salvation without mediation of any intermediary saint, saviour or prophet.

     It is shocking that the cunning Christian missionaries, being quite unaware of the lofty lessons of sublime significance admonished by the Upanishads and Vedas, have been deceitfully indulging in false, fabricated and malicious propaganda against Hindus and Hinduism with an ulterior motive of converting illiterate, innocent, gullible, poor Hindu villagers to Christianity. A few instances of their vile campaign are cited here to open the eyes of tolerant Hindus. During the regime of the British, the Christian missionaries spread a rumour that every year several Hindus were voluntarily offering themselves to be crushed under the wheels of the chariot of Jagannath at Puri to attain salvation. They made a malicious propaganda that the Rath yatra (religious procession by a chariot) of Jagannath was accompanied by lewd and lecherous dancing girls singing lustful and lascivious songs making obscene gestures at the passersby. William Welbforce, the cunning Christian crusader in Britain even demanded that the Jagannath Temple might be demolished to put an end to the vulgar dance. But the British commissioner of Puri informed the British government that he and several other Englishmen had been regularly witnessing the Rath yatra for more than twenty years, but had found no shred of truth in the canard spread by the missionaries.14

     After independence, the Christian evangelists carried on a vicious propaganda among Hindu fishermen residing along the sea-coast of Tamil Nadu and in the slum areas of Madras, telling them that landing of the American Marine Commandos on the Indian coast was imminent. They brain-washed the illiterate fishermen by saying, "You are the rejects of Hindu society, you are slaves. The Americans are our friends; they are not only willing but also anxious to liberate you. That will make you enjoy all the fundamental

34. H.V. Seshadri: Christian Missions in Bharat — Some Questions to Pope, p. 11.

human rights. So, the Church has formulated what is known as "Liberation Theology", and hence this preaching. The landing of American troops here is possible any time. They will liberate you and thereafter it will be the kingdom of God for you."35

     Swami Vivekananda's blood boiled when he witnessed Christian missionaries indulging in vile vilification and vituperation against Hinduism. He vehemently exposed the cunning Christian proselytisers and strongly protested against their malicious propaganda as under:

     "I protest against certain of their methods of raising money in America. What is meant by those pictures in the school books for children where the Hindu mother is painted as throwing her children to the crocodiles in the Ganga? The mother is black, but the baby is painted white, to arouse more sympathy and get more money. What is meant by those pictures, which paint a man burning his wife at a stake with his own hands, so that she may become a ghost and torment the husband's enemy? What is meant by the pictures of huge cars crushing over human beings'? 1 have heard one of these gentlemen preach in Memphis that in every village of India, there is a pond full of the bones of little babies.

     What have the Hindus done to these disciples of Christ that evey Christian child is taught to call the Hindus "vile" and "wretches", and the most horrible devils on the earth? Part of the Sunday school education for children here consists in teaching them to hale everybody who is not a Christian, and the Hindus especially, so that, from their very childhood, they may subscribe their pennies to the missions.

     If not for truth's sake, for the sake of the morality of their own children, the Christian missionaries ought not to allow such things going on. Is it any wonder that such children grow up to be ruthless and cruel men and women?

35. H.V. Seshadri: Christian Missions in Bharat — Some Questions to Pope, p. 17.

Look again at the books published in Madras against the Hindu religion. If a Hindu writes one such line against the Christian religion, the missionaries will cry fire and vengeance."36

     Addressing a Christian meeting at Detroit, Swami Vivekananda said, "You train and educate and clothe and pay men to do what? To come over to my country to curse and abuse all my fore-fathers, my religion and everything. .... They walk near a temple and say, "you idolaters, you will go to hell". But they dare not do that to the Mohammedans of India, the sword would be out..... And whenever your ministers criticise us, let them remember this: If all India stands up and takes all the mud that is at the bottom of the Indian Ocean and throws it up against the Western countries, it will not be doing an infinitesimal part of that which you are doing to us."37

     The Christian missionaries boast of giving India the first printing press. But the very first pamphlet published in first printing press owned by Carey at Serampore, contained nothing but vile vituperation against Hindus, Hindu scriptures and Hinduism.

     According to Justice Niyogi, the Christian missionaries were carrying out false propaganda to allure the gullible illiterate Hindus. He reveals in his report: "In our exploratory tour in the Jashpur area, there was a complaint that the preachers told the villagers that Jawahar Raj had come and there was no happiness, and they assured them that Jawahar's Raj would go and that the Christian Raj would come. ... The supremacy of the Christian flag over the national flag of India was also depicted in the drama which was staged in a school at Jabalpur."38

     The Christian priests, proselytisers and writers cunningly preach that India was a no man's land inhabited by only

36. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Vol. IV, pp. 344-345.

37. Ibid., Vol. VIII, pp. 211 212.

38. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p.125.

aboriginals. The original people of India are Dravidians; the Hindus came to India late as Aryans. Thus, Hindus are foreigners in India and Hinduism, a foreign religion. On the basis of this perverted hypothesis, they mischievously conclude that all foreigners can be placed on par with the Hindus who are also aliens to this land. They go one step further in vile vituperation against Hindus by saying that there is no "Hinduism" in India at all, there is only "Indianism", and that the Brahmins have given this title "Hinduism" to "Indianism" to exploit the Indians, and that in the name of Hinduism, Hindus are exploiting a vast number of Indians, scheduled castes and depressed classes.

     Justice Niyogi informed the government of Madhya Pradesh in 1956 through his report in very clear words that "a vile propaganda against the religion of the majority community is being systematically and deliberately carried on so as to create an apprehension of breach of public peace."39

     Justice Niyogi has given in his report statements of various persons including Christian priests indicating malicious propaganda of the Christian missionaries who adopt deceitful methods to depict Hinduism as inferior religion and Christianity as superior. He vividly states in his report:

     "56. ... Ramchandra Bhedi, M.Sc. class student (Amravati No. 8), mentioned that Rama was described (by Christian missionaries) as a God who destroyed Ravan and was contrasted with Jesus who died for the wicked. He produced an extract from a book called Bharatat Alele Preshit, in which it was written that the whole of India should be Christianised. None of the Christian witnesses admitted the existence of this book, but we have been able to obtain a copy of it. Rev. Grubb (Amravati, No. 2) admitted that in his preaching he had referred to Krishna as one who killed his enemy and to Jesus as one who died to save his enemies. Balwant Ganesh Khaparde (Amravati No. 10), retired professor of Benaras Hindu University, heard

39. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, p. 131.

Rev. Pawar in July, 1955 making a strong attack on Hindu religion in the kirtan recited by him and emphasised the fact that Jesus Christ was a historical person. Dattatraya Govind Joshi, (Amravati, No. 11), who played on the tabla to the accompaniment of the songs sung by Rev. Pawar, confirmed his statement and added that Rev. Pawar ridiculed Krishna for teaching reverence for the cow.

     57. The Christians have now adopted the practise of reciting bhajans styling them as Yeshu Bhajans and reciting the Bible calling it Yeshu Bhagwat. (Rev. Maqbul Masih, Bilaspur No. 2). Referring to the passage Ishya Vashyam Idam Sarvam occurring in the Isha Vashya Upanishad, a preacher declared to the people that it meant that the whole world was going to be Christian, (Gulabchand, Amravati, No. 14). A Christian preacher addressed persons in the market place on what he called "Yeshu Bhagwat", and the lives of Rama and Krishna were attacked in a way offensive to the Hindus, (Mukund Chitale, Advocate, Bilaspur No. 5). At Mahasamund, Dr. Samuel preached that salvation lay only through Jesus, and not through Rama whose wife was snatched away (Jatashankar Sharma, Raipur, No. 6).

     58..... A preacher in a hospital at Tilda was heard telling the patients that Krishna, Rama, Shankar, and Vishwamitra had gone for the darshan of Jesus Christ at his birth (Harriramji, Raipur, No. 15). In the pamphlets Guru-pariksha, Ram-pariksha, Chandraleela and Sacha Majhab Konsa Hai, there are very provocative attacks on Rama and Mohammad. In Guru-pariksha the following occurs:

"*r«T tpor .... yf&cjldl *$ ?t ST9JH, cwlfo m 9> *TO ____ 3<l£fl %> cT?T n fcTK it"

liNt 5>T ETfiT fo*ITI l$T (Jddldff qr 3TT?TTT flg^T 5T# JJJ5THT f' [W k]

"n*T .... irtt SIT .... 3TWTT TUT 3TT* flfcr 1$ ift 33T-----'* [<J5 **]

     59. In the Dharmopadesh (part II), other religions are referred as false religions, propounding worship of Satan. ... The protection of cows is also ridiculed on the ground that Christian god has given full power to man over the animal creation, as over the vegetable kingdom. ... Some of the witnesses also stated that in the course of the preaching it was sought to be impressed that the Christian rule had made the people happy but that the present government could do nothing for the Harijans, and that it was itself depending upon America for supply of wheat and monetary aid. (Jatashankar, Raipur, No.6, and Ramchandra Bhedi, Amravati, No. 8)

     60. ... The kind of instruction that the missionaries appear to receive, can be seen from the under mentioned extracts Occurring in the Evangelical Christian, September, 1955, on page 419, under the head "False God": "Any one who has visited India, knows the hold that religion has upon the people. They worship a million gods, from inanimate sticks and stones to everything that lives and creeps on the earth — cows, monkeys, snakes, etc. ... India's trouble is religion, not the lack of it. ... Her tragedy lies in her rejection of the One Person. ... It is Christ who can meet her need, etc.

     61. ... Similarly, a journalist, Mr. Harold Begbie in a work The Light of Asia, published by the Christian Literature Society for India, speaks of Hinduism as "A weltering chaos of terror, darkness and uncertainty. It is a religion without an. apprehension of a moral evolution, without definite commandments, without a religious sanction in the sphere of morals, without a moral code, without a God, except a being which is mixture of Bacchus, Don Juan and Dick Turpin. It is the most material and childishly superstitious animalism that ever masqueraded as idealism, not another path to God but a pit of abomination, as far set from God as the mind of man can go. ... (Page 157, Is India Civilized ? by Sir John Woodroffe, Judge, High Court, Calcutta).

     62. Can any right thinking man assert that such vile attacks on the religion of the majority community in India is part of Christian religion or is conducive to public order or morality? We are aware that top-ranking Mission authorities have themselves denied such attacks and have assured the government that it is only the mistaken zeal of some fanatical individuals which is occasionally responsible for such outbursts. If such instances had been few or casual, we would have accepted this excuse. But the voluminous oral and documentary evidence before us shows that attacks on Hindu religion, its gods and deities, are an important and integral plank of Christian propaganda, and are being indulged in, in a concerted manner deliberately in all parts of the country."40

9. Deceitful Methods of Conversion

     In spite of the fact that there are too many sects in Christianity, viz. Catholics, Protestants, Liberals, Jesuits, Calvinists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Mormons, Pentecostals, Lutherians, etc., they have been united in converting Hindus of Hindusthan to Christianity. Though they have differed, debated, and even waged gory wars among themselves, yet they have been united in proselytising the illiterate and innocent people of Hindusthan in particular and Asia and Africa in general. They have been adopting all kinds of mehtods — force, fraud, frightening, persuation, temptation, vilification, vituperation, tortures, torments and even blood-curdling atrocities. Terror and tyranny, compulsion and coercion, barbarity and brutality backed by Salvation Army were the only methods adopted by the Portuguese Roman Catholic proselytisers in Goa. The readers can imagine the height of cruelty and barbarity from the following "pledge" undertaken by the Jesuits:

The Jesuit Pledge

     "I pledge faithfully that I will go to any part of the world. I promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless wars, secretly or openly,

40. Justice Dr. M.B. Niyogi: Report of the Christian Missionary Activities Enquiry Committee, Madhya Pradesh, 1956, Vol. I, pp. 119-121.

aganist all heretics, Protestants and Liberals. As I am directed to exterminate them, from the face of the earth, I will spare neither sex, age, nor condition and that I will hang, waste, boil, strangle and burn alive these infamous heretics, rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women and crush their infants' head against the wall to annihilate for ever their race. When the same cannot be done openly, I will secretly use the poison cup, strangulation cord or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honour, rank, dignity or authority of the person or persons, as I, at any time, may be directed to do so, by any agent of the Pope or superior of the Society of Jesus."41

     When Bharat was conquered by the Protestant Britons, they, unlike the Portuguese Roman Catholics, adopted persuasive and alluring methods, such as, pecuniary inducements to the converts, their social elevation, offer of government jobs, control of the educational apparatus, hospitals and dispensaries, financial support to the proselytising missionary institutions and grant of public land to missionary organisations. When these alluring pecuniary methods failed, they resorted to force, fraud and coercion. Mr. S. Estborn admits in his Church Among the Tamils and the Telugus: "The converts from the depressed classes have become Christians for economic and other non-religious reasons. Non-religious factors and motives have been operative in the birth and growth of the Church. Help in times of famines and epidemics, support against oppression by landlords and money-lenders, better social standards, education for their children, hope or chance of employment and other such things have undoubtedly contributed to their baptisms."

     In 1876, there was a ravaging famine in the Krishna district. The cunning Christian proselytisers exploited the opportunity. The Italian Catholic missionaries around Bezwada converted the people of all villages to Christianity. The Baptists and the Lutherians reaped more harvest than the Catholics,

41. H.V. Seshadri: Christian Missions in Bharat — Some Questions to Pope, last page, Appendix III

because they were already established in the area with plenty of funds from Britain.

     Gandhiji was fully aware of the deceitful methods adopted by the Christian missionaries in famine areas. He narrates his experience in his Harijan very candidly: "Only the other day, a missionary descended on a famine area with money in his pocket, distributed it among the famine-stricken, converted them to his fold, took charge of their temple and demolished it. This is outrageous. The temple could not belong to the converted Hindus, and it could not belong to the Christian missionary. But this friend goes and gets it demolished at the hands of the very men who, only a little while ago, believed that God was there."42

     Thus, it is crystal clear that the mass conversions of Hindus of Hindusthan to Christianity were not prompted by spiritual motive. Justice Niyogi corroborates the fact in his report as under: "We found groups of illiterate Adivasis, with families and children getting their top knots cut and being shown as Christians. Most of them do not know even the rudiments of the new religion. To cite a typical instance, Beni Madhao (Bilaspur, No. 8) who was the son of a Malguzar, was unable to say with what word the Bible begins and with what it ends, and was also ignorant of Lord's prayer. Some said that their sins were forgiven. The government have supplied us with a list of persons recently converted in the Surguja district after the promulgation of the Constitution. A perusal thereof will show that about 4,000 Uraons were converted in two years. ... We have met many Uraons in the course of our tours and we were struck very much by their total absence of religious feeling. In the Christian literature itself, it is admitted that the vast majortiy of converts are but nominal Christians. At Khandwa, we had the opportunity of meeting' a body of Ballahis