"NAILING THE HINDUTVA OUTFITS' LIES REGARDING FORCED CONVERSION of ADIVASIS BY CHRISTIAN MI

In the late sixties, a well-built and well fed young man (with a holstered revolver strapped to his waist) along with another healthy-wealthy looking young guy could be seen zipping up and down main thoroughfares of Ranchi town in a left hand drive Willis Jeep which had red coloured plates embossed with the word “Jashpur,” in place of the usual license plates found in motor vehicles of ordinary mortals. This was Dilip Singh Judeo, the so-called scion of the so-called royal family of Jashpur, a very backward region in Chhatisagarh. (Jashpur has a large advivasi (tribal) population.) The other guy was his cousin. They were then studying at Saint Xavier’s College, Ranchi, a prestigious Christian institution run by the dedicated Jesuits missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church. Years later, I read that this very Mr. Judeo was now a BJP Member of Parliament and was personally involved in conducting some sort of rituals ostensibly to bring back to Hindu fold (He termed it Ghar Wapasi) those tribals who had embraced Christianity! Reportedly, this practice is still being continued by the descendants of Late Dilip Singh Judeo (Died 2003).

Late Mr. Judeo’s contention, as also of various Hindutva outfits is that, (1) the tribals (adivasis) are believers of Hinduism i.e that the Hindu faith is their home, and conversion to ‘foreign’ religions is not to be tolerated ; and that (2) those who converted to Christianity, did so because of the machinations of and inducement of one kind or other i.e. fraudulent means by Christian missionaries. Nothing could be far from truth. The tribals from Central India such as the Bhils, Gonds, Mundas, Oraons, Santals and others found within states of Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhatisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and the tribals such as the Khasis, Mizos, Nagas, and others from the North Eastern states, are not Hindus but ‘Primalists’, which some prefer to call ‘Animist’. Primal religion (Animism) is a condition that has existed prior to all later systems of religious faith including Hinduism. I firmly believe that an educated gentleman like Late Dilip Singh Judeo was not unaware of this fact. However, he had and others like him have no intention of abandoning centuries old practice of exploiting adivasis for their own comfort. What better way than, through relentless ritualistic propaganda among and subtle coercion of illiterate and impoverished adivasis, to make them believe in the falsehood that they are Hindu. The farcical drama of 'Ghar Wapsi' of adivasis who had embraced Christianity is a part of this sinister design. For many years now, the high caste Hindus have, with a view to dominate them, through ingenious methods, been absorbing adivasis within its lowest economic and social framework.

There is no truth in the allegation that Christian missionaries indulge in ‘forced conversion’. Christian churches abhor and condemn any attempt to induce changes in religious identity by unethical and spurious means. Father Dominic Emmanuel, in his book “Christianity, Hindutva, Conversion” (Sat Prakashan Sanchar Kendra, Indore) has quoted Late Archbishop Alan De Lastic. Here is what the Archbishop had to say: “Conversion is generally accepted as a free personal act. Therefore, there is no such thing as forced conversion, which is a contradiction in terms. It is also incorrect to say that we convert people. Nobody can actually convert another person. It is the person who decides to ‘convert’ oneself to another religion…”. In 1961, the World Council of Churches, a grouping of inter alia the Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican churches, defined proselytisation (in meaning, a word akin to ‘forced conversion’) as ‘‘a corruption of Christian witness’’, which used ‘‘cajolery, bribery, undue pressure, or intimidation, subtly or openly, to bring about seeming conversion.’’ Similarly, the Second Vatican Council of the Roman Catholic Church in its Declaration on Religious Freedom (1965) states, “In spreading religious faith, everyone ought, at all times, to refrain from any manner of action which seem to carry a hint of coercion or of a kind of persuasion that would be dishonourable or unworthy, especially when dealing with the poor or uneducated people. Such a manner of action would have to be considered an abuse of one’s own right and a violation of the rights of others.”

Harsh Mander, in his latest book “Looking Away: Inequality, Prejudice and Indifference in New India” (FEEL Books Pvt. Ltd.) states that “(Christian)missionaries have reached love and hope to the most wretched of India— its leprosy patients, orphans, the disabled and the infirm— rarely with conversions, and in ways that few other Indians have even tried to achieve….”.

The fact that, even after decades of presence of foreign Christian missionaries and the constitutional protection of the right to pursue and propagate one’s religious faith, the population of Christians in 1971 census was a mere 2.6 percent which fell to 2.3 percent in 2011 confirms the falseness of Hindutva propaganda about forced conversion or mass conversion by Christian missionaries.