The Rising People’s Party (RPP) in Nagaland has strongly condemned use of Nagaland House at New Delhi for alleged religious propaganda and political activities.
Referring to media reports that RSS-inspired Bharatiya Christian Manch organised a pre-Christmas programme at Nagaland House, New Delhi on December 16, the party asked the State government to clarify on the issue.
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| RSS youngsters in rural West Bengal |
RSS leader Indresh Kumar's remarks on 'conversion' at Nagaland House pre-Christmas
meet on December 16 has provoked angry reactions from the United Christian Forum.
The occasion was a pre-Christmas gathering and it was billed as an 'outreach'
effort towards Nagas from the pro-Hindu ruling dispensation in the centre and its
associates.
Fourteen Naga Christians were killed recently in remote Mon district by
army personnel in a botched up counter insurgency operation.
However, in his speech at the function organised by Bharatiya Christian Manch, senior RSS
leader Indresh Kumar ended up criticising 'Conversion' generating strong reactions from
Christians.
A C Michael of United Christian Forum told this journalist:
“I think he (Indresh Kumar) is in effect confessing to have interfered in others faith and worship because
after all it is the people of his group who barge into peacefully praying communities physically
assaulting and criminally threatening them".
“As for changing ones’ faith it is an individual’s choice. No one can ever force or allure any one into another
faith unless one is deep into that faith and is getting the much needed solace," he said.
Addressing the function organised by Bharatiya Christian Manch, Indresh Kumar said:
"When we are respecting every other religion, then there is no
need for conversion. Conversion causes differences. It causes hatred, it creates conflict....
so if we are to make the world conflict-free, then there is a need to respect all other religions".
The evening gathering included a large number of Naga Christians as well members of diplomatic corps from countries such as the United States, Russia, Syria and Korea and also Union Power Minister R K Singh. At the function, Singh also said he had education both in school and college levels in Christian institutes.
Observing that the programme seemed to have been a propaganda meeting propagating a political agenda, RPP pointed out that the controversial programme made headlines in most national dailies.
The party said the avoidable controversy had soiled the image of Nagaland, for which it held the State government solely responsible.
RPP wanted to know who authorised the use of Nagaland House for hosting the politically-inclined pre-Christmas celebration and who were the State co-organisers of the programme. It said the State government was expected to issue a clarification on the issue.
Given the ramifications, the party demanded that the State government should apologise to the people of the State and immediately issue a notification debarring such activities in Nagaland Houses.
Kargil Martyr Neibu
Indresh Kumar had also said - "Doosre ke religion mein interfere karna, criticise karna, yeh azadi nahi
hae (To interfere in other people's religion and to criticise them, is not freedom)".
At times he used English phrases such as - "It (Conversion) is immoral, unethical and also it is
unconstitutional and inhuman".
He emphasised, "Follow your own religion, respect all other religions.
If we follow this path, then we can avoid a big problem and conflict. This conflict may
be political, social and also religious. That is conversion".
Mr Michael, a former member of Delhi Minorities Commission, countered him stating: "By accusing the people of fraudulent means of conversion he is only finding fault with the peoples’ intelligence.
He is questioning the citizens’ choice of God or Faith".
The vexed conversion issue is a major bone of contention between Hindu hardliners
and organisations such as the RSS and various Christian organistions and church leaders.
Even Missionaries of Charity - founded and once run by Mother Teresa comes at the receiving
end from time to time.
Not long ago RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said in Rajasthan at Bharatpur:
"The service may be good, but there's a motive behind it. The idea is to make the person
feel obligated, so that they become Christians".
Even last week, in Gujarat, an FIR was lodged against
an organisation run by Missionaries of Charity.
Police in Vadodara city launched an investigation into the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan shelter
home on December 13 after a complaint was registered alleging violation of the "anti-conversion law".
The Congress, India's principal opposition party, is headed by Sonia Gandhi, a Catholoic born
to Italian parents. She was married to Rajiv Gandhi, now deceased, who was grandson of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Their son Rahul Gandhi recently said - "I am a Hindu" and of course he said he is against
gross communal Hinduism as pushed by the RSS or the BJP hardliners.
(NagalandPage Link)
RSS leader Indresh Kumar tells India's Christians to stop conversions
UCAN report:
Indian Christians have been told in as many words to mind their own business and stop converting people from other religions to their faith.
The message was conveyed at a pre-Christmas gathering in capital New Delhi on Dec. 16 by Indresh Kumar, a senior leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the mothership of pro-Hindu organizations including India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The gathering held at Nagaland House, a popular venue for Christmas gatherings, was billed by the RSS as an “outreach effort” with tribal people from the Christian-dominated northeastern state of Nagaland.
It was attended by some 300 people including federal minister R.K. Singh, RSS and BJP leaders and foreign diplomats from the US, Russia, Syria and Korea.
Kumar, who spoke in the native Hindi language, said the greatest message of Christmas was peace, brotherhood, love and tolerance. “Respect all, follow your own [religion], there is no need of violence, no need of conversion,” he added.
Kumar said if one respected all religions, then there was no need for conversion. “If we follow this path, then we can avoid big problems,” he said.
“Conversion causes differences. It causes hatred, it creates conflict ... so if we want to make the world conflict-free, there is a need to respect all religions.”
The RSS leaders further emphasized that religious freedom is not the freedom to interfere in or criticize other people’s religion.
Kumar reiterated that there was “no bar” on following one’s own religion. But when there’s criticism of and interference in other people’s religion, conflicts are bound to happen.
The event was organized by the Bharatiya Christian Manch (Indian Christian Forum) floated by the RSS a couple of years ago purportedly to “deepen harmony and understanding” and “have wider relationships” with the minority community.
Kumar’s plain talk came within a day of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s clarion call to Hindus for propagation and protection of Hindu culture and values along with bringing back to the Hindu fold all those who had converted to other religions.
Bhagwat was speaking at the inaugural session of a three-day-long Hindu Ekta Mahakumbh on the theme of uniting all Hindus at Chitrakoot in the central state of Madhya Pradesh on Dec. 15.
“Keep making efforts to bring people who had left Hinduism and ensure that they can rejoin the Sanatan Dharma. The fear could not hold you back for long. We will have to ensure no one leaves the Hindu religion. Those who have left will be brought back to our family,” the Hindustan Times reported him as exhorting the participants.
A.C. Michael, a former member of Delhi Minorities Commission, said the words and actions of leaders like Kumar do not match.
“The Hindu leaders should stop their own activists from interfering in matters of other religions,” he said in an oblique reference to the repeated attacks on Christian institutions including places of worship across the country in recent months.
Christians found themselves especially vulnerable in BJP-ruled states like Gujarat in western India, where authorities have launched police investigations into the affairs of an orphanage run by the Missionaries of Charity, accusing them of attempting to convert the inmates.
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