New Delhi, October 6
Blaming the extremist Hindutva agenda for the ongoing persecution of Christians in Orissa, Archbishop of Delhi Vincent Concessao today said that the Christians leadership would have to meet BJP top brass to discuss the issue and work out a solution.

“We have already seen the President, the Prime Minister twice, and the home minister. We may now have to see BJP leaders also. We want to get L.K. Advani’s assessment of what is happening in Orissa, and why the BJP has not yet condemned the violence,” the Archbishop today said in an interview to The Tribune.

He was deeply pained at the Centre’s lack of firmness in handling the Orissa situation, and said it should have taken over Orissa as a disturbed area much earlier. Article 356 should have been invoked earlier, he said, adding that too much consideration of political fallouts had made justice secondary. The Archbishop also called for immediate banning of the Bajrang Dal and the VHP, saying the extremist Hindutvavadis were bent upon exterminating Christians from Orissa.

“This is a sad reflection on the central and state governments. Sadder is the fact that Christians have had to seek refugee status from the UN in their own country. This happened because our own government was unresponsive. Expression of sympathy is not enough, as it does not stop killings of people,” the Archbishop said.

He firmly rubbished accusations that conversion by Christians was at the root of communal tension in Orissa, as claimed by Hindu outfits. Only yesterday, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for end to conversions, blaming them for communal strife. Archbishop Concessao, however, denied these allegations, and said the anti-Christian violence of the scale being witnessed in Orissa was not happening by chance.

He attributed it to Hindutva indoctrination, and said it were the Hindutvavadis, not Hindus who were indulging in violence against Christians. “This indoctrination consists mainly of misinformation about religious conversions, false accusations on Christians and generalisations about conversion-related mistakes that may have happened in the past when there was lack of understanding on the relationship between the state and church. The church has no policy of conversion,” the Archbishop clarified, openly calling for probe under the Foreign Contributions Regulatory Act of the foreign funds coming into India.

“If anyone has misused these funds or misbehaved, the law will follow its course. It is for the government to find out if any such thing has happened. It does not mean the Hindutvavadis will punish innocent people who have nothing to do with all this,” the Archbishop said, reacting to the VHP’s allegations that international evangelist organisations were funding conversions by Christians in India.

The conversion rhetoric, the Archbishop claimed, was politically motivated and was being deliberately spread by communal Hindutva elements who want to “generate hatred and hostility against the minorities”.

“Elections are round the corner. Whatever is happening in Orissa and Karnataka is a way of isolating the minorities to consolidate the majority vote bank. Hindutva elements think we too have political motives, but don’t have any,” the Archbishop said, threatening to expose extremist Hindutva agenda and how it can harm the secular democracy of India.

He called for the inclusion of religious discourse in school curricula, and said the church would go to people to tell them the truth about Christianity and Hindutva. “We want open discussions on the subject so people can make an informed choice,” he said, taking on the critics who allege that Christians deliberately engage in missionary work in backward, tribal areas to be able to “convert them”.

“That is not true. We serve tribals because that is part of our faith. We have priority for those whom the caste system in this country has kept isolated for centuries. But Hindutvavadis and upper caste people cannot tolerate this. They can’t see the backward castes rising up the social ladder, gaining economic stature and tilting the economic balance. That’s another problem. The exploiters want to keep on exploiting people and deny them any dignity, whatsoever,” the Archbishop said.

He vehemently stressed that Hindutva was irrelevant in India, and that the church would come out stronger at the end of the crisis in Orissa and other states. “Troubles have always strengthened the church,” he said, referring to the growing sense of insecurity among minorities in India.

The Muslims have had their share of troubles and now it is our turn, said the Archbishop, adding, “Tomorrow it will be some other minority. The government must be more responsible in fulfilling its duty to protect minorities especially when they know there are groups with ideologies dangerous to the country, the Constitution and the future of the country.”