New Delhi: A right-wing Hindu website has accused the Catholic Church in India of promoting what it says is the theology of ingratitude.
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has rescued a Catholic priest and another Catholic aid-worker from the clutches of death in Afghanistan. Yet the church, at the ground level, is working to create a strong anti-Modi hysteria among its followers,” says an article in swarajyamag.com.
Titled “Time To Rise Up Against The Theology Of Ingratitude” by Aravindan Neelakandan, the article claims the prime minister has shown “complete respect to all faiths in a typical display of Indic secularism,” but “the proselytizing forces do not take these gestures as actions reflecting goodwill.”
The article urges the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to address Christians directly and convey “the message of true secularism rather than placating the forces that have vested interest in retaining the control over the believers.”
The “58-year-old independent media start-up” that has become “a new-age media company with a rich and storied legacy” notes that Cardinal George Alencherry, head of the Syro-Malabar Church, had spoken of “the vicious nature of Hindu fundamentalism” barely months after the BJP won the parliamentary elections in 2014.
The website laments that the Kerala cardinal, in his address at a conference in Sarajevo, never bothered to mention, “even in passing” the “virulent proselytizing activities aggressively pursued by churches across India.” Instead, he accused BJP legislators and the Sangh Parivar of inciting violence against Christians and Muslims.
According to the “Swarajya,” the cardinal’s remarks had set the tone for how the Church should position itself against the BJP rule. “Unsubstantiated reports of attacks on churches started pouring in soon after the new government took office. Electric short-circuits and children accidentally breaking window pane of a church were trumpeted as attacks by Hindu nationalists. Delhi police chief had to clarify these facts after the fictional fear mongering unleashed by the clergy.”
Such “malicious campaigns did not make the government to indulge in any discriminating acts against the Christians bit act proactively to help Indian citizens in distress abroad, “in some case those rescued were Christians.”
The website cites the rescue of aid workers Jesuit Father Alexis Prem Kumar and Judith D’Souza from Taliban custody in Afghanistan. Fr Kumar, who worked with the Jesuit Refugee Service, was rescued in February 2015, after more than eight months of captivity. D’Souza, who worked with the Aga Khan Foundation in Kabul, was released on July 22 this year, a month after she was kidnapped.
The “Swarajya” recalls that the Jesuit priest had said that he was saved because of the intervention of the prime minister. Another Jesuit Father Joy Karayampuram, spokesman of the Jesuit Refugee Service in New Delhi, also expressed his gratitude: “Thanks to PM Modi, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.”
However, Church news services played down the role played by the government and the prime minister, alleges the website. “Except a very informal thanks expressed by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI), the apex body, there was no mention of effort undertaken by the government of India,” it says.
The website also cites a report in the Catholic Herald on February 23, 2015, that quotes the rescued priest thanking only “God Almighty” and “completely ignoring the efforts of the Indian government.”
Even in D’Souza’s case, international Catholic news agencies such as Vatican Radio named only her religion while her family members expressed their gratitude to the government.
“Such proactive acts by the Modi government, which brought joy to its own community members, never deterred the Church from crusading against the Indian government. It does not even hesitate to join hands with political forces that are against the idea of India,” laments the article.
It also mentions the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council’s criticism of the new draft for the National Education Policy. “After making the usual accusations of Sangh Parivar conspiracy, the clergy tried to find fault with the draft for alleged introduction of Sanskrit as a third language in schools and yoga as a precondition for gaining recognition,” it notes.
The article accuses “Thenoli” (voice), a Church publication from Kottar diocese in Tamil Nadu, of demonizing the prime minister, labeling him as “Hindu supremacist,” “the hero of the 2002 communal riots” and “the spoiled brat of inhuman western capitalist forces.”
It ends with the comment: “Thus the theology of ingratitude is a strategic driving force in the crusade against the ‘pagans’ in independent secular India.”