Articles
Message from Dr T.H.Chowdary To Christian Brothers and Sisters in the Telugu States
Dt: 21/12/21
Message from Dr T.H.Chowdary
To
Christian Brothers and Sisters in the Telugu States
On this happy occasion of Christmas festivities (2021) it gives me great pleasure to greet my fellow Christian brothers and sisters and wish them peace harmony and prosperity. I also acknowledge and appreciate the excellent education and health services some Christian societies and organisations are rendering in our Telugu States and elsewhere in Bharat .
2. Article-25 of India’s Constitution confers fundamental right for every citizen to profess, practise and propagate one’s faith; that is religion. Hindus do not propagate and convert others whereas Christians (and Muslims) do so. When the draft of this Article was discussed in the Constituent Assembly, there were serious objections from eminent Members of the (Consembly) against the third element, namely propagate. Several Christian Church associations even from 1944 onwards have been proclaiming that no Constitution of India would be acceptable to them if it does not guarantee the fundamental right for Christians to evangelise and convert as that is their essential duty in the nature of an injunction from Jesus Christ himself. The Christian members of the Consembly vehemently stridently demanded for the inclusion of the word, “propagate”.
3. I however like to highlight some dubious and unChrist- like actions and practices of proselytizers and the harm they are doing to the targeted for conversion sections of our people, especially Dalits. I invoke the much eulogized charity and love professed by Christianity to bear with me as I point out the unethical practices the propagator -“converters” are indulging in.
4. First I refer to the Christian population as reported to and recorded by the Census of India since 1971. At the All India level, it has been remaining at 2.3%, with insignificant variation. Can this be believed, what with extensive proselytization campaigns as a mission and tens of thousands of churches, prayer halls /houses coming up /planted all over as Project Joshua and another Project to convert boatman at Ganges ghats, fishermen and the sea-coasts, artisans /sculptors who are traditionally engaged for building temples; nurses , lab assistants in hospitals, house-maids diagnostic centers and teachers.
Christians as a share of the total population in India between 1951-2011
|
Year |
1951 |
1961 |
1971 |
1981 |
1991 |
2001 |
2011
|
|
Pop of Christians |
2% |
2.44% |
2.6% |
2.44% |
2.32% |
2.34% |
2.34%
|
Source: Statista Research Department
https://www.statista.com/statistics/702005/share-of-christians-2011/
5. Second, I refer to Christian population in the two Telugu States up to 2011 census and a recent revelation in post 2019 in Andhra Pradesh.
Christian Population in Andhra Pradesh (undivided)
|
|
Year |
||||
|
|
1971 |
1981 |
1991 |
2001 |
2011 |
|
Total population mln |
43.5 |
53.6 |
66.5 |
76.2 |
84.5 |
|
Christians mln |
1.8 |
1.43 |
1.2 |
1.1 |
1.1 |
|
% of Christian population |
4.19 |
2.68 |
1.83 |
1.44 |
1.38 |
Source: Census of India
From the tables it can be seen that census after census the proportion of Christians to the total population in the Telugu states has been coming down and was as low as 1.38% in 2011. Can we believe these figures in the light of innumerable churches, as many as about 50,000 in the last few years. I give a specific example of the fraud. The village Angaluru in Krishna District of AP where since history Hindu temples had been only 3, in the recent past 12 churches had been planted and according to census 2011, there are no Christians in the village .
6. Further during the COVID period the GOAP invited applications from Priests working in places of worship. 29,841 Pastors, 31,017 Archakas and 7000 Imams/Muezzins applied for this welfare payout. This shows that there are nearly as many Pastors as Archakas ! It works out to one Pastor for 37 Christians and one Archaka for 3686 Hindus.
7. It is common knowledge that over 80% of MLAs and MPs from constituencies reserved for SCs are converts and practising Christians . So the converted both for purposes of census and for election to legislature and the parliament are falsely declaring that they are Hindu SCs . I addressed a letter to every MLA and MP elected as a SC in AP to bring this fraud to their notice and requesting them to respond. None answered. It is obvious that the Dalits who are not yet converted are being cheated by those who are converted but are having false SC certificates. I is also clear that without instruction and help of the proselytizers this fraud cannot happen. Is it not a slur on the great name of Jesus Christ that this fraud is committed on a such a large scale? It is not only for the elective posts; even for jobs that are reserved for Dalits in government and its organs like Public Sector Underakings the same fraud is going on.
8. Mahatma Gandhi who is universally respected was clearly opposed to proselytization especially of the innocent Dalits. As early as on 21 March 1931 in a pubic interview to the press in Delhi on this question of conversions, asked if you would favour the retention of foreign missionaries when India secures self- government, Gandhiji said, “ if instead of confining themselves to purely humanitarian work such as education, medical services to the poor the like, they use these activities of theirs for the purpose of proselytizing , I would certainly like them to withdraw. Every nation considers its own faith to be as good as that of any other. Certainly the great faiths held by the people of India are adequate for her people . India stands in no need of conversion from one faith to another . (Page 157 , History of Hindu-Christian Encounters : AD304 to 1996 by Sri Sitaram Goel, a Voice of India Publication) . On another occasion Gandhiji said, “that after independence if he had the power, he would expel all missionaries and stop proselytization and conversion”.
9. Christian proselytizers are invoking Article-25 which gives them freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion. This was very hotly debated when the constitution was being written. Prof. K T Shah had this opposed the right to propagate.
10. While speaking on this provision, Sri Loknath Misra, an eminent parliamentarian and scholar observed, “….to my mind article 19 (which became Art-25 in the final version of the constitution) is a Charter for Hindu enslavement. I do really feel that this is the most disgraceful article the blackest part of the draft constitution. I beg to submit that I have considered and studied all the constitutional precedents and have not found anywhere, any mention of the word propaganda as a fundamental right relating to religions…propagation of religion brought India into this unfortunate state and India had to be divided into Pakistan and India. If Islam had not come to impose its will on this land, India would have been a perfectly secular state and a homogeneous state. …if you accept religion, you must accept Hinduism as it is practised by an overwhelming majority of the people of India….”
11. Prof K T Shah was another eminent member of the Consembly. He too was opposed to have this fundamental right to propagate religion put in our constitution. While opposing this provision, he moved an amendment which ran, “ provided that no propaganda in favour of any one religion which is calculated to result in change of faith by the individual affected shall be allowed in any schools or colleges or other educational institutions; in any hospital or asylum or in any other place or institution where persons of a tender age or of unsound mind or body are eligible to be exposed to undue influence from their teachers, nurses or physicians, keepers or guardian or any other person set in authority above them and which is maintained fully or partially from public revenues or is in any way aided or protected by the government of the Union or of any state or public authority therein”.
12. However, the Christian lobby in India prevailed to get this right to propagate included in the Constitution as a fundamental right. Dr Ambedkar said in no Constitution of any country in the world is propagation of religion a fundamental right. His compromise that it maybe included in the Directive Principles was not accepted, all under the influence of Jawaharlal Nehru. The Christian lobbies in India finding that Gandhiji and Hindus were opposed to conversion, cultivated Jawaharlal Nehru and his unexpressed antipathy to Hindu dharma and Hindu society was exploited by the missionaries to get this right to propagate into the Constitution. They argued that it is a fundamental tenet of their religion propounded by Jesus Christ himself that the message of Christianity should be propagated all over the world. The pronouncement of the Supreme Court of India that the right to propagate does not mean the right to conversion, has been totally ineffective in practice.
13. It is common knowledge that wherever conversions had taken place on a large scale the people there are engaged in secessionist activities. Examples are : Kashmir Valley of J&K, Nagaland and Mizoram .
14. The great patriot, statesman and social reformer Dr B R Ambedkar had therefore advised and exhorted Dalits not to convert to foreign-origin religions, Christianity and Islam but only to the Indian religion, Buddhism and thus preserve and secure India’s integrity and nationhood.
15. The Christian propagandists are invoking secularism as a fundamental principle of our Constitution. But several state governments are financing the pilgrimages of Christians to their Holy land, Jerusalem. They are giving money for construction of churches. Similarly the government of India and some states are financing the Haj pilgrimage of Muslims and construction of Haj Houses. Such facilities, pilgrimages of Hindus , construction of temples are not financed by any government. On the other hand, the temples unlike churches and mosques are administered and managed by governments. All these are non-secular actions of the governments . Secularism in India has come to mean promotion of and support to Abrahamic religions ( Christianity and Islam) and indifference, if not exploitation of Hindu assets and taxes. ( 1,557 words)