Frontline
December  2000
Cover Story

A Red Herring called conversion

A convent educated Hindu, who was keen to convert but received no encouragement from the priests at school and college, is ‘appalled at the animosity suddenly being shown towards Christians’

By HL D’silva

I recently attended a meeting in Chennai, organised by the Fellowship of Catholic Professionals, to review the two books, Missionaries in India and Harvesting of Souls, written by Arun Shourie. While reviewing the first book, a Jesuit Priest commented that "the term ‘Conversion’ has been used by the author umpteen times (he quoted the number which I did not take note), so much so ‘conversion’ seems to be Shourie’s Magnificent Obsession".

Two years ago, when our Prime Minister visited the Dangs district of Gujarat after the killings of Christian tribals by Hindus militants, instead of consoling the affected people, the PM called for a national debate on conversions! Do we sincerely believe in this canard of ‘conversion’ just because colonial rule from the sixteen century onwards till 1947 allegedly provided a favourable climate for conversions to Christianity?

It seems that the Sangh Parivar has suddenly discovered a conspiracy to convert Independent India? It also appears as if, it has made this discovery while the earlier governments were sleeping! I beg to submit that even Shourie himself does not believe his own charge, as he says in his book that during his years in St. Stephen’s College, New Delhi, nobody tried to convert him. Why then this ‘conversion-phobia’? To my mind this is all a part of the Sangh Parivar’s long term strategy on which I shall elaborate after I share with my readers a recent personal incident.

In my retired life, I still keep in touch with four or five former colleagues, who are close friends. Barring one, the rest are all Hindus. We do exchange letters and greetings on festive occasions. And in a letter I wrote to one of them about three months ago, I had said: "There is nothing much to write about things from here except the almost daily attacks on Christians and their institutions…"

What my friend wrote is worth sharing with readers of Communalism Combat. I am quoting him verbatim except in the place where he refers to his maternal grandfather, where I have intentionally suppressed the name. My friend wrote: "As a product of missionary educational institutions (Montfort Boy’s High School, Yercaud and Madras Christian College), I am appalled at the animosity suddenly being shown towards Christians. With seven years in Montfort (with active encouragement of my parents) I used to attend Mass, evening Benediction, say Grace before/after meals (used to recite the Rosary everyday). BUT NOBODY and I mean NOBODY tried to ‘convert’ me.

"Around my sixth year at Montfort, I spoke to our Principal, Bro. Baptist, and our priest, Father Prior, that I would like to convert. You will be surprised to know that they wrote to my parents (who flatly stated that it would be MY decision and they would never stand in my way) and finally advised me to think about it and take the final step when I was a little older!! By this time I had become a good boarder — used to be caned at least twice a week for breaking rules, was getting barely pass marks in my subjects, smoking in the bath rooms on the sly, sneaking off to throw crackers in the dormitory of the Sacred Heart Convent (for girls) and so on.

"Obviously my religious ardour was cooling in direct proportion to my growing popularity as a difficult student! In Madras Christian College I joined a ‘Prayer Group’ (mainly because it was the only way to spend some time with a rather lissome lady student) and got caught up in the ‘Protestant’ format of Christianity. (Montfort — Brothers of St. Gabriel is Catholic); My warden, Rev. Macphail, who later became principal after Dr. Boyd, was fond of me and watched all these antics with amusement. He was well aware of the fact that my maternal grandfather was the late (an orthodox Brahmin) a contemporary of the famous Dr. Miller — who left the Church in disgust at what he perceived as the commercial/mercenary approach of the heads (Bishops and so on) of the Diocese.

I found to my surprise that the word of Christ became more interesting and fulfilling than the chance of ‘dalliance’ with the lissome young lady and I found myself in front of Dr. Macphail seeking conversion to Church of England/ Church of South India. You won’t believe it but Dr. Macphail advised me that if I fashioned my life on the principles of my late grandfather, I’d be a Christian in any case and better than most. He said the ritual of conversion was a mere formality and could wait until I was a little older. He told me that what was important was to strive to be a productive member of the society, not to harm people and try to do maximum good for others. (I did not go through the ritual of formal conversion).

"Incidentally, my maternal grandfather was a trainee priest –- Iyengar — in the holiest of holies – the Srirangam temple at Trichy – before he converted and joined the Theological College in Bangalore and acquired a degree called Bachelor of Divinity. What I am getting at is my complete failure to comprehend the suspicion and bigotry of religious fanatics. In my very mixed up National/International family, we have representatives from all religions except Buddhism/Shinto. It is no big deal what kind of rituals you observe as long as you genuinely believe in God. The tragic reality is the fact that religious bigotry is a convenient cover for the desire for power/economic power, be it Wars of the Roses, 100 years war, Crusades, Jehads, Babri Masjid etc., etc."

Kindly note the exclamation marks, emphases, capitals etc. are all my friend’s and not mine. So you have the testimony of a mature, educated Hindu who retired a couple of years ago as dy. general manager of one the largest public sector corporations in the country. Why then this frenzy and phobia about conversions? To my mind conversion is a red herring to divert the attention of the majority community from a deeper and sinister game of the Sangh Parivar. Our colonial history as well as that of the Muslim conquerors indicates that Religion was used to consolidate political and economic power, particularly by the Portuguese. Nobody, not even Church history, denies or underrates some of the atrocities committed in the name of religion. Hence this bogey of ‘forcible conversions’ has become a convenient and saleable commodity to use as a weapon for the larger purpose of slow poisoning of minds of the majority community — the Hindus, particularly the middle class.

The poor in their search for their next meal cannot afford to think about religion but they can be easily manipulated/incited once the ‘haves’ are brainwashed. It is significant to quote the chief editor of the Indian Express, Shekhar Gupta, who said in a panel discussion over the BBC last November: "We must indeed be concerned that the sustained campaign of the fanatics by their hate literature and stories of alleged forced conversions etc. seems to be succeeding. Whereas we have succeeded in alienating the Muslims, it now seems that we have opened another front against the Christians which was non–existent till recently".

Once this is achieved then the Sangh Parivar believes, no doubt assuming that the BJP or whatever its constituent assumes power at the Centre, it would be easy to take any steps to subjugate/intimidate the minorities and turn them into second class citizens or even worse as slaves who have no rights for anything. It is surprising that the minorities, not so much the Muslims as Christians, have not become aware of this ‘game’ of the Sangh Parivar and keep mouthing statements like "The majority of the Hindus are very tolerant" etc.

Yes, they were, but are being slowly and steadily brainwashed into believing that Christianity has been deceiving this country by its educational and health institutions with an ulterior motive and thus preventing it from taking its rightful place in the comity of nations as a major power.

One must also find this thinking as the reason for the solid support the Sangh Parivar seems to be getting, both moral and financial, from the rich Non Resident Indians in America, if we had cared to note the details of the $100 dinner reception to Prime Minister Vajpayee at Staten Island. Near New York.

It is time that all those who believe in India’s secular and pluralistic society do everything in their power to thwart the Sangh Parivar’s game, which in the ultimate analysis will not usher in a Hindu Rashtra but will destroy us a nation.

 

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