Author: AsiaNews/Ucan
Publication: AsiaNews
Date: March 24, 2004
URL: http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=533
A prominent Hindu religious leader
has accused Christian missioners of working against India and called for
their expulsion from the country. Bishops based in central India have dismissed
Shankaracharya Nishchalanand Saraswati's comments as biased and baseless.
Shankaracharya Saraswati, who heads
one of the four "mutt," or religious seats, linked to eighth-century Hindu
sage Adi Shankaracharya, made his remarks at a press conference in Bhopal,
745 kilometers south of New Delhi. Bhopal is the capital of Madhya Pradesh
state, some parts of which have recently witnessed Christian-Hindu conflict.
The heads of the mutt, in the east,
north, south and west of India, all have the title shankaracharya and are
sometimes called "the four Hindu pontiffs".
Shankaracharya Saraswati, who heads
the eastern "mutt" in Puri Orissa state, said the "sole objective" of Christian
missioners is to lure illiterate tribal and low-caste people to convert
and increase the number of Christians. He claimed he saw this during his
stay in Mandla, a backward area in Madhya Pradesh. Mandla is covered by
Jabalpur diocese.
The shankaracharya said he would
ask state Chief Minister Uma Bharti to immediately stop Christian activities
in Madhya Pradesh. He alleged that Christians have never worked to improve
society but are "preoccupied" with dividing society along religious lines.
Shankaracharya Saraswati said on
March 18 that missioners should be banished from the country because "they
are working to destabilize the Hindu nation and to install a Christian
nation."
Jesuit Archbishop Pascal Topno of
Bhopal, head of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, says the Hindu leader
has "only repeated what are routine allegations." He told on March 21 that
fundamentalist Hindu leaders often make such anti-Christian remarks.
Similarly, Bishop Gerald Almeida
of Jabalpur refuted the Hindu leader's allegation that the Church indulged
in mass conversion. "We have never tried to convert people. Rather, we
inform aspirants of the possible difficulties and legal hassles in the
process of conversion to Christianity," he said. The bishop added that
Church workers counsel people who express an interest in Christianity to
consult their family before embracing the religion.
According to Bishop Almeida, the
Church entered the Mandla region in 1923 and local people are happy with
its services. "More significantly, people are asking us to open more institutions,
a fact that shows the local people appreciate our work," he said, expressing
dismay that a Hindu religious leader should view Christians as a threat
to national integrity.
"Raising a finger is easy. The seer
made an allegation without providing any substantiation," the bishop said.
In Bhopal, Shankaracharya Saraswati
also alleged that Christian leaders have used "huge" funds from abroad
to "buy" government cooperation. He said Hindu organizations have objected
to Christian activities, but "administrative officials are hand in glove"
with Christian missioners.
Archbishop Topno said the Hindu
religious leader's remarks have not frustrated local Catholics. "We know
that people with goodwill appreciate us, while people of bad will persistently
accuse us unnecessarily," he explained.
Father Denis Carneiro, Madhya Pradesh
Catholic Church spokesperson, termed Shankaracharya Saraswati's remarks
"untoward" and noted that the Hindu leader could not support his claims.
"There is no apparent evidence of any increase in the Christian population
in the state," he said, even though Hindu leaders have accused missioners
of "converting people in huge numbers."
The priest bemoaned that critics
of Christian missioners "seem to have chosen to be prejudiced rather than
simply ignorant.They could dispel ignorance by making themselves aware
of the facts, but prefer instead to attack the Church without any credible
supporting evidence."