Fr Jesuino Almeida
n April 11, 2021, I was very happy to read three articles, two on “Herald” “Korlai onde o Português ê lingua Indiana (Korlai where Portuguese is an Indian language) by Fr Joaquim Loyola Pereira and “New vision needed for a new India” by Eugene Correia. And the third article on a nagri Konknni daily: “Hindutva jedna dumxenna kanddtta, Hinduncheanch kannttar bosta (when Hindutva creates conflicts, it hits the Hindus only) by Damodar Mauzo.
All three writers are speaking from totally different angles and yet with the same vision. Fr Loyola with his friend Fr Seby Mascarenhas visited Korlai in Vasai, 55 kilometres from Mumbai at the heart of Maharashtra. From the 16th to 18th century a group of Portuguese people mixed with the natives of the place and created an Indo-Portuguese community.
Today there are 800 people there. The common language of the place is Marathi, but the mother tongue of these people is Portuguese. They pray in Portuguese Fr Loyola saw that their hymn books are written in nagri Portuguese say a Portuguese dialect in Vasai. Fr Loyola and Fr Seby were thrilled to discover and interact with this ethnic group who live there without any political prejudice. That is a unique situation that teaches us to respect the identity of a community.
Eugene Correia writes: In a book written in 1990, “Christ as common ground: A study of Christianity and Hinduism”, Kathleen Heady, in her preface, reveals six years of her study of the relationships of Christianity and Hinduism in India. The author feels that the spiritual union of East and West is crucial in our world. The urgency of such union is of utmost importance in the current social landscape of India. The political rise of the Hindu right is alarming. Whereas in the past the communal discord was simmering at the surface, it has boiled over ever since the BJP seized the power at the centre in 2014. In present-day India, even Mahatma Gandhi, who symbolised peace and racial harmony, is not spared. Little or no significance is given to Gandhi’s avowed love to the sermon on the mount of Jesus. The recent harassment of nuns on a train shows the anger of Hindus who cannot see eye to eye with those professing the faith in Christ. Two terms of the BJP rule have given a signal that there is all likely-hood of gag widening up, Congress is seen as secular in its outlook and performance. Hence, Gandhi as much as Jawaharlal Nehru and his dynastic legacy is lampooned for what India had become. Historical data that shows Nehru as the maker of modern India is flatly denied. On the reverse, Modi is proclaimed as the man who is in the process of bringing in a New India.
Coming now to the third article published by Bhangarbhuim: Damodar Mauzo begins as follows: on March 19, at 11.30 a.m. Utkal Express left Delhi for Orissa. Nothing was known about what was going to happen during the next 12 hours. Two Sisters with two trainee girls were sitting along with a group of Abba trainees. They were returning to Jhansi after attending training at Hrishikesh. They must have been excited by their training. The two Sisters and the two girls who were candidates for sisterhood were from Kerala. The two Sisters of Sacred Heart were in their religious dress and the two girls aged about 19 in salwar kamiz. The Sisters were talking about Christian faith to the girls who were getting ready to become Sisters.
The young boys were first angry when they heard the Sisters conversation, then they suspected that the girls were brought to be converted. They started to investigate: Who are you? From where are you coming? What are you doing? Where are you going? Where are you taking these girls? In the beginning, the Sisters smiled and answered their questions. But when they noticed their untoward behaviour they became cautious. The boys became angry. They spoke loudly. The people from the bogie came together. Since in Uttar Pradesh the law on “Love Jihad” and Anti-conversion bill had been recently approved, the people started suspecting. It was 6.00 p.m. The Sisters and the girls were frightened and the boys felt that the people around were supporting them. They started shouting: “Jai Shri Ram”, “Jai Hanuman”.
The Sisters and the candidates were frightened. The boys phoned to ABBA Bajrangdal and Vishva Hindu Parishad people and told how they caught red-handed the Sisters making conversions and called them to Jhansi in big numbers. They also informed the police. Hundreds of people came to Jhansi station.
The train arrived at Jhansi at 7.30 p.m. The people entered the bogie before the police. The people stood before the Sisters and started questioning them, and recording the statements on mobiles, they forced the Sisters to state that they were carrying them for conversion. The girls asked: we are born Christians where is the matter of conversion? The people asked for their ID Card and Aadhar Card, the people said: The Aadhar Card does not say that you are Christians, the railway police were standing silent there. The Hindutvadis told the police to get the Sisters and the girls down.
All the police were men. The Sisters said: as long as a woman police is not there we shall not get down. The commotion increased. The Sisters informed their higher authorities in Delhi about the situation. They said that they would follow the case. The police brought them down by force, the Abba, Bajrangdal and Vishu Hindu Parishad followed them to the police station shouting bad words. They also gave this information to the media and carried forward their rough actions. The police held the Sisters and the girls for four hours. In the meantime, the higher authorities of the Sisters informed the Bishop of Jhansi about the situation, who conveyed the matter to IGP, Lucknow. The IGP himself came to the police station and checked the matter. He saw that the girls were Christians and had been selected for training. Seeing that there was no fault, all four were released at 11.30 p.m. Where would they go at that time? That night they spent at Bishop’s House. The next day they were sent to Rourkela by another train.
These actions of Hindutvadis were published on media news. When the media asked the Home Minster Amit Shah about it, he said. The “law will follow its procedure.” After facing 10-12 hours of shame, tension, pushing all sides, stopping halfway, the Superintendent of police said: “they have not done anything improper” and they say: “the law will follow its procedure”. What is the meaning of these words from the Home Minister?
You are free, now to go home, carry on. Why? Because they belong to a minority? Everything that the majority does is forgiven?
The news reached Kerala, Chief Minister, Pinarai Vijayan who wrote a letter to the Central Home Minister, which was published by the press. In the letter, he said: Due to this case of Sisters a sense of insecurity among the people has risen, take action soon”. The secretary of Kerala BJP George Kurian wrote a letter to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister saying that there should be a protest against this case, but before the Centre took any action, the Railway Minister, Pius Goyal washed his hands and said to the press: “There was no attack on Sisters. Vijayan is telling lies. Some people who did not belong to Abba, as there was a complaint, brought them down, that is true, but it is wrong, absolutely wrong to say that they belonged to Sang Parivar. But the Home Minister calculated. If we keep quiet, it will affect the elections. Now he has given orders. The police detained two people and passed a warrant against another two. Among those who were detained is Purukesh Amalya the Vice- President of Bajrangdal and joint secretary of Vix Hindu Parivar, Anchal Adjarya and two people of Abba Parishad are hiding. Besides, to bring down people without proper check-up is also to be scrutinized, this is the order. This check-up seems to be false. It looks like saying: “I will pretend to beat you, you pretend to cry.” How many people who came to Jhansi station had platform tickets? Did anyone have courage to ask? It appears that to be born a non-Hindu is a sin but that is also not true.
How is the situation between the Dalits and Brahmins? Those who want Hindu Raj do not want to see Dalits along with them. The process goes on.
We need to be cautious. The three articles mentioned above and written by Fr. Loyola Pereira, Eugene Correia and Damodar Mauzo, have a powerful message for all of us. Let us carefully reflect upon it.
(The author is a member of Pilar Society. He worked in the mission of Jharkhand, Andaman-Nicobar and Haryana for 30 years.)
