By Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net
Over the past few months, the Jharkhand government has come down extensively on conversions of tribals in the state to Christianity, with the state government passing a Bill that restricted conversions in the state. While many states have passed such laws in the past, what was extraordinary was that the Chief Minister Raghubar Das did not stop at this: he also published a full-page advertisement in prominent newspapers of the state. In the advertisement, Das took the help of Mahatma Gandhi to criticise conversions.
The advertisement quote roughly translates as:
“If Christian missionaries think that a person can get salvation only through converting to Christianity, then why don’t you start this work beginning with me or Mahadev Desai?
Why are you emphasizing religious conversion of these simple, innocent, and poor Dalits and Vanvasis? They can’t even differentiate between Jesus and Mohammed and are not even capable of understanding your religious teachings.
They are mute and simple as a cow. These innocent and uneducated Dalits and Vanvasis whose poverty you are milking and are making them Christians; they do not become Christians because of Jesus but because of ‘rice’ that is for their stomach.”
This was what Das quoted from Mahatma Gandhi, although he tactfully replaced the word “Girijans”, the word that Gandhi used to refer to Adivasis, with Vanvasis. The advertisement, also, does not put the source of Mahatma Gandhi’s saying.
Seeing such developments and Raghubar Das’ open stance towards the missionaries, Bishop Theodore Mascarenhas, Secretary General at Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) has written an open appeal to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
On September 13, Bishop Mascarenhas wrote, “He(Raghubar Das) began some months ago with vitriolic attacks against the Christian Community. Then in a first for any Chief Minister he came out with this particular full front page advertisement in the prominent dailies of the state.”
It also said, “Less than two weeks after the advertisement, while the Jharkhandis were still shocked over the hate-filled advertisement, the ruling party brought into the State Assembly and passed two important Bills: The Freedom of Religion Bill and the Amendments to Land Acquisition Act 2013, in record time practically without discussion. One wonders whether the hatred filled advertisement and the “Freedom of Religion Bill” were smoke screens for the real act of the amendment to Land Acquisition Act. Is there something more than meets the eye especially since the Governor had earlier refused to sign Amendments to the CNTPT Act. Was the Chief Minister creating a diversionary tactic of mounting hatred,” the letter reads.
The CBCI’s General Secretary accuses Das of carrying out his communal hateful agenda by fueling the state-aided propaganda in the state.
This is one of the first time when any Christian body has spoken out in Jharkhand.
The letter also says, “Dear Prime Minister, the Church has as usual not responded to the provocations of the Chief Minister. It is not because we are afraid, it is not because we are weak. That the Christians have not responded should not be taken as a sign of weakness. We are not speaking about ourselves, we are speaking about the people of Jharkhand. It is not possible that so much money is spent by the Constitutional authority of the State on front page advertisements sowing hate when health facilities are so poor that stories of parents carrying children on foot for 10-12 km. to arrive at the nearest hospital makes the news.”
“Mr Raghubar Das and his advisors at least in the past few months have not shown affiliation to the ideology you are proclaiming,” the Bishop said.
The steps of the government also seem surprising given that despite all the talk about conversions, only about 4.5% of the state’s 27% tribal population follows Christianity. Raghubar Das has been openly speaking up and taking action against the Christian societies working in the state.
The full letter can be read here.