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Record Catholicity of papal
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Have a
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Profile Comments
Unkempt Diversities
— Delhi Letter
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Catholicity of papal authority Though
the story about Pope Adrian IV placing his slippered foot on a kneeling Emperor Frederick Barbarossa’s neck is probably apocryphal, he did make the emperor hold the stirrup while he mounted his horse. Such demonstrations of papal authority were common enough in the Middle Ages. But it was Pope John Paul II whose political clout achieved far more during the Cold War than the military divisions to which Stalin mockingly referred could have done. Yet, despite television images of millions of pilgrims, his pontificate was far from robust, which is why the 117 electors of the College of Cardinals could do worse than look for a successor in Asia, Africa or Latin America. Such a fitting tribute to the Polish pope’s universalism would underline the catholicity of the Roman Catholic Church which Islam has now overtaken as the world’s most popular religion. The spectacle of a black, brown or yellow Vicar of Christ would divert attention from scandals, controversies and shrinking congregations throughout the Western world. This pragmatic prescription for revival may not appeal to devout Catholics. They will probably retort that the choice of an heir to St Peter’s throne reflects only God’s will with no thought of earthly benefits. That is nonsense of course, for the papacy – and John Paul II’s more than any other — has always thrived on its worldly commitments. Way back in 1953, when the first Indian prince of the Church, Valerian, Cardinal Gracias, visited St Xavier’s College, I asked a Jesuit priest if Gracias could ever become pope. I had in mind not only the cardinal’s pioneering position but the legend of St Thomas the Apostle landing at Cranganore in 52 AD, making the Malabar coast the cradle of Christianity in Asia. Father Leeming conceded that there was no ecclesiastical objection to an Asian head of the Holy See. The arguments he cited against it happening were secular. The pope ruled an Italian state. He was a public figure in Italy where he interacted with important Italian and European institutions, like governments and the powerful Society of Jesus. He controlled a vast fortune, presided over a College of Cardinals that derived in some ways from the Roman Senate, and was also Bishop of Rome with local priestly functions. No non-Italian had been elected since 1523. Few Germans made it because the Vatican was often at loggerheads with the Holy Roman Empire. One reason why only one Englishman ever wore the triple crown was that for all its global empire, Britain mattered little in Europe’s architecture of power. Even the few non-Italian popes conformed to the dominant ethic by choosing Italian-sounding names. Karol Wojtyla’s elevation in 1978 broke with precedent. His ministry quickly lived up to a political mandate in which saving souls for Christianity was synonymous with saving people from Communism. History will pronounce on the part he played in the rise of Lech Walesa and Solidarity, in Poland’s rejection of Communism and in rolling back what was called the Iron Curtain. The West could not have fielded a more urbane, sophisticated and skilful crusader than the man who had courageously confronted, albeit with dignity and discretion, his country’s Nazi and then Soviet occupiers. His mission was as relevant to non-Christians as to Christians, to the Third World as to Europeans. Indeed, it seemed especially sensitive to developing countries when he celebrated history’s largest ever mass in Manila, established a Congolese church in Rome, and grieved for Uganda’s dead, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, as the “ecumenism of the saints and of the martyrs.” Preaching the “civilisation of love” in Jerusalem and Bethlehem, he was as affable with Jewish as with Palestinian leaders. No other pope denounced Western materialism as the “culture of death,” reached out as diligently to the world’s suffering or made human rights the central issue of his preaching. The underlying strategy recalled George Canning, the 19th century British prime minister who “called the new world into existence to redress the balance of the old” by turning his back on decadent Spain and recognising Mexico, Peru and Chile as independent nations. Similarly, the pope fostered in the Third World the Catholicism that was languishing in the First. Traditional bastions of the faith like France and Ireland are lapsing into apostasy. Paedophilia charges have discredited the clergy in several centres; many reformers are in exile. The Vatican’s rigid views on divorce, abortion, contraception, homosexuality and female ordination seem increasingly irksome; the ban on using condoms compounds rampant AIDS. Even once faithful South Americans respond to the call of boisterous Pentecostalism or find Liberation Theology attractive. No individual cause is more important, however, than the indifference to religion that explains the sparse scattering of grey heads in European pews. As John Paul II sought other fields to sow, Bharatiya Janata Party zealots — it takes one to know another, as they say — accused him of proselytizing during his 1986 visit to India. It was a facile charge for conversion is a pope’s job. A leopard might as well be blamed for its spots. It was in Africa that he blazed a trail, freeing Catholics from the straitjacket of Latin so that they could worship with song and dance, clapping and drums. With 150 million Catholics — up from 9 per cent to 50 per cent and still rising — Africa may be the future. The cultural gulf between Catholicism and tribal mores has been narrowed; weekly services by visiting African priests keep alive churches in France that would otherwise be altogether deserted. Brazil, where 75 per cent of 180 million people profess Catholicism, is another focus. In fact, two-thirds of the world’s Catholics are in developing countries. Latin American cardinals outnumber Italians, and the developing world accounts for a third of the red hat brigade. The logic of numbers necessitated being relentlessly on the move, making 104 trips to 129 countries, shaking hands with more than 1,500 heads of state or government, and covering more than half a million miles. The medium being the message, the pope understood that he had to be photogenic, inspiring and accessible. His “popemobile”, which may have inspired Lal Krishna Advani’s rath, guaranteed instant publicity as he set out on global recruiting missions. Catholics alone can determine the spiritual impact of his 26-year reign. Many accused him of ruling the global community of 1.1 billion Catholics with an iron hand. They say he eased out liberal prelates and buried the hopes aroused by the Second Vatican Council. He reversed the legacy of both Pope John XIII who wanted to “throw open the windows of the church” and Pope John Paul I who congratulated the parents of the world’s first test tube baby. Ironically, conservatism appeared to find an echo in parts of the Third World. Recent converts may be less mindful of the pope’s political activism and less troubled by money or sex scandals in theological institutions. Some may be unaware of or indifferent to Pope Pius XII’s equivocal attitude to the Holocaust. What may matter more to others is whether another European will feel as deeply for the underprivileged as John Paul II. Only someone from the lands he held so dear may appear to be qualified to carry out his secular work. No one would dream of speaking in terms of colour but such an appointment would bring another white monopoly to a dramatic end. There is reason in all this for the 18 or so Asian members of the college, the 10 from Africa and 17 from Latin America to press for a historic break with 2,000 years of orthodoxy. A Third World nomination might yet save a hallowed First World institution. If not this time, then when the next vacancy occurs. Not the most crusty Eurocentric elector can afford to ignore
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Have a heart for
war widows and soldiers Chief
of Army Staff General J.J. Singh’s call to the corporate sector to pool resources to help war widows and wounded soldiers is timely. The Tribune, which has always been taking up such important social causes, has extended the scope of the subject to include the proper rehabilitation of ex-servicemen also who mostly come from rural areas. Some of the families have the tradition of serving in the army, generation to generation in a row. The other ranks and the middle level officers are the cutting edge of the defence forces. A soldier expects the proud native land and its countrymen to express their gratitude by making proper provisions for young widows and orphaned child or children when he joins the armed forces. But this does not seem to happen in the country though it is rich in resources and manpower. Apparently, the powers that be have so far been banking too heavily on the latter. As the world has turned into a global village, we can no more ignore the human and social aspect for a soldier who literally signs his death warrant to protect the country and its people. It is another matter if he returns in one piece. But the basic responsibility for his reasonable sustenance lies with the country and society which has signed him for this extraordinary job. Western countries have created a sound security system for war widows, wounded soldiers and rehabilitation of defence forces retirees. There was a time when one of the earliest winners of the Victoria Cross medal, Nicolson’s widow, Mrs Nuriel Nicolson, embittered by her own poverty and penury of other war widows, decided to sell the medal. Though first of its kind, the medal fetched a handsome amount in a London auction — pound sterling 1,10,000. But subsequent sales by other widows dwindled to just 50 sterling. Unfortunately, we do not have a social security system. Even the service conditions of the armed forces are thrown overboard while implementing the recommendations of the pay and pension commissions. The retirees continued to be paid ex-gratia off and on up to the Second Pay and Pension Commission report, that too, after the ex-servicemen’s pressure groups convinced the government of the injustice. The Third Pay and Pension Commission listened to the armed forces retirees’ woes. Pension books of widows receiving as low as Rs 3 a month were shown to the members of the Commission. The One Rank, One Pension demand continues to be scuttled despite its acceptance by the Supreme Court. Instead, schemes like One Time Increase introduced were full of alibis, making the pension paying authorities dens of corruption. For instance, a Naib Subedar who retires at 35 years gets pension less than a peon. For 100 per cent disability, a General is granted Rs 2,600 a month whereas his equivalent in the IAS gets Rs 3,000. The review of disability lies with the CDA and in most cases the Army Medical Board’s decision is overturned. It has been made mandatory for the Army personnel, whose service conditions are entirely different than civilians, to put in at least 33 years of service for becoming eligible for 50 per cent pension. There is a need to examine the entire gamut of the problems facing war widows, wounded soldiers, soldiers suffering from post-battle syndromes and armed forces retirees. Most retirees are fit physically and mentally. This segment can be an asset to the country as thousands of ex-servicemen proved during the crisis in Punjab. The Centre should provide guaranteed rehabilitation to them as the states concerned do not have the resources. There should be a separate Pay and Pension Commission for the armed forces. The One rank, One pension scheme should be implemented expeditiously. A social fund for the armed forces should be set up by nominal deductions from the pay of all the employees; the corporate sector too should contribute liberally. Pension for all widows should be based on the last pay drawn by their husbands. In fine, there is need for a general attitudinal change towards the welfare of war widows, soldiers, serving and retired, and their
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Profile by Harihar Swarup To important ones, he offers tea and sweets and asks them to guess what it is? Some are able to guess; it is
amla muraba, full of Vitamin C. Sudarshan is always on the move, travelling extensively. He has no home of his own, no family to look after. His home is RSS headquarters in Delhi or wherever he sojourns. Sudarshanji, as he is known, is 100 per cent
swadeshi in living and thinking. Doubtless, Sudarshanji is a man of simple living. Anyone would be impressed by his ascetic style. Paradoxically, he is not a man of high thinking. He could not come out of the cloistered environs of the RSS in which he has grown since he gave up a promising career of an engineer having stood first in the interview for a high-profile job. Instead, he preferred to be an RSS Pracharak. A classmate of his was astonished at his choice and told another colleague: “Look, what a stupid thing Sudarshan has done. He has become something called a Pracharak of RSS, giving up a bright career. What a fool!”. For the young Sudarshan, however, there was no looking back. He has not changed with times and still steadfastly believes in an ideology which holds no good for the growth of a political party. Former National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra’s comment that “the vision of Sudarshan is that of a frog in the well” may be too harsh but it is literally true. Sudarshanji was an average student, having acquired the BE degree in tele-communication. But he was a forceful speaker. He is fluent in his native tongue Kannada, and other languages like Bengali and Assamese. He is not as scholarly as his predecessor, Professor Rajendra Singh alias Rajju Bhiayya, who taught physics in Allahabad University and still remembered by a galaxy of students produced by him. While Rajju Bhiayya is known to be a moderate and can think beyond Hindutava, Sudarshan remained a hardliner. Some call him a ‘hawk’. Predictably, the RSS under the new supremo became more proactive and pursued its goal more vigorously. The construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya has been an article of faith with him. He saw the agitation by the VHP as a renaissance in the Hindu ‘samaj’. In an interview to the RSS organ, Panchjanya, soon after taking over, he likened the pulling down of the Berlin Wall with laying the foundation stone of the Ram temple. “Demolition of the Berlin Wall was a symbol of collapse of Communism and foundation of Sri Ram Janma Bhoomi temple was a symbol of resurgence of Indian nationhood”. Though Sudarshan is the first RSS Chief, hailing from South, he was born, brought up and educated in Madhya Pradesh. His parents hail from Kuppahalli village in Mysore district. His father Sitaramayya joined the forest service of the old Madhya Pradesh government with its capital at Nagpur. Born in Raipur in 1931, Sudarshan got his early education in far-flung and jungle-clad places like Mandla, Damoh and Chandrapur. Finally, he joined the Jabalpur Engineering College and obtained the Bachelor's degree in telecommunication with distinction. He completely dedicated himself to the RSS, vowed not to get married, left his home and promoted the organisation's work in various regions of central India. Having seen his dedication, the RSS leadership of that time drafted him to carry on the Sangh's work in North-Eastern states, a difficult task indeed. He toured the region extensively during his prolonged sojourn in mountainous areas and thick jungles and picked up besides Bengali, Assamese, the local dialects. As far back as 1990, he was appointed Sah Sar Sanchalak (deputy chief). Come Emergency, Sudarshan was imprisoned and lodged in Indore jail. His jail mate was the JD (U) leader and former Union Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav. Being a Lohiate socialist, Sharad vehemently differed with the ideology followed by Sudarshan. There were marathon debates between the two on the virtues of socialism and Hindutva. Sharad says, Sudarshan would never give up and was always ready with a cogent argument to press his point. His impression was that the RSS leader was “a very determined person”. Sudarshan is the fifth RSS Chief and has been greatly influenced by Guru Golwalkar, the third Sar Sangh Sanchalak, who had a fanatical following and known to be as strict disciplinarian as the present one. Like Guru Golwalkar, Sudarshan is also a hardliner who wants to build a resurgent society with Hindutva as its mainstay and swadeshi as its economic philosophy. Chances of his success appear remote. |
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Comments Unkempt by Chanchal Sarkar
It was a great week for world television. More than 200 heads of nations and states, St. Peter's Square filled brimful with millions who had, many of them, waited all night out in Rome's cold. Tears rubbed from sore eyes and shouts of “Made him a saint now”. Amazing the rites, rituals and panoply of Catholic Christianity. But was Pope John Paul II such a great man? He could not stop the war in Iraq. Present at the funeral were George W. Bush and Tony Blair who paid no heed to his or the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' earnest prayers and unleashed war. As many as 1.2 billion Catholics out of six billion world population and yet the Pope could not stop an oil-mad, power-mad President and his complaint henchman from going to war. Nor could he stop the divisive cracks within the Church — the 125 million Brazilians from being against the Pope's views on sexuality, abortion, divorce and contraception. Homosexuality and mishandling of children marred the priesthood but he was silent. Millions in Africa and Europe also against his views, John Paul II had tried to bring together other schools of Christianity but he could not reconcile Christianity with Islam which has grown over more warlike. The Pope could do nothing to stop the war in Palestine, a war of a rhinocerous (Israel) against a flea (Palestinian Muslims). TV once again showed how wealthy the Vatican and the Catholic Church is with its gold and robes and rich ornamentation and, of course, its marvellous sculptures and paintings. Pope John Paul II travelled as no other had and held mass in poor Catholic countries like the Philippines (an open air mass for six million) but could do little to persuade the rich countries to give even 0.7 per cent of their GDP to the poor. The poverty in Kenya, Malawi and Sudanese Darfur are a strain on the world which did not ease despite the Pope's homilies. The Catholic Church has been one of the most powerful engines of the world in education, conversion, communal worship and community life. Starting intellectually from Europe it has spread to every continent with vast communicants in Latin America and Africa, not to forget countries like the Philippines. Only in recent years has its ideology-ringed autocracy been broken and the priesthood is no longer the undisputed leaders of the parishes large and small. Pope John Paul II's death comes at a time when deep haircracks have appeared in the huge Catholic community. One sixth of the world's population are not everywhere willing to accept the lower status of women in the Church and the denial of the right to choose how to use their body. John Paul II was rock-like in the conservatism but his successor is unlikely to consider that the work of Liberation Theology among the poor is equivalent to "Marxism" and that contraception is a sin against life. John Paul II, though he said he was against the Iraq war, was unable to persuade the very large number of American Catholics that the war was cruelly wrong and that the claims of the USA and the UK were false from the root to the stem. So too his predecessors Kennedy and Johnson had been wrong over the ruthless war in Vietnam. Indeed it seems sad that such a powerful and often wealthy community could do so little about the pitiless
genocidal wars in Rwanda, the Congo and Sudan. By simply calling for peace or by visiting well over 110 countries the Pope could do little. One journalist counted that he made no less than 94 culpable apologies from the Crusades, to the Inquisition to the treatment of women, not forgetting the softness towards Hitler and his own views on women's rights. The Pope was unable to use the vast number of his followers to help the poor to break through poverty. Of course, it is not the Catholic and Christian Churchs alone; the unlimited wealth of the oil countries and the gold and money stashed in India's Hindu monasteries also have not gone very far to help the poor. But all in all John Paul II was a very likable character who had worked hard in his Krakow parish, withstood Nazi and Communist autocracy, who played good football and had a great yen for the media. We were also treated to hours on television on Prince Charles and his mistress of 30 years and at last his wife despite the annoyance of his mother and of his father who had had innumerable mistresses in his time. For us it was somewhat trying to watch not only the robes and gold of the Vatican also of Windsor's St George's Champel. Both showed the trappings of imperialism and the disregard for inequality. In the hall sat the dubbawalas in their Gandhi caps. The overhanging flags of the order of the Knights of St George may have been picturesque but they also reminded us and Britons of the huge public money spent on the British Family. Despite Gandhiji's many years and the leonine roar of Swami Vivekananda, we in India have only learnt to keep Rashtrapati Bhavan in expensive order, admire the glint of the spears of British-trained horsemen down the British-built Kingsway. We haven't learnt to show our people the essence of Shantiniketan or Wardha. |
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Diversities — Delhi Letter World
Theatre Day passed by, with Sangeet Natak Akademi requesting Zohra Sehgal to do the inauguration for the whole range of performances
linked to our very own traditional forms, 'Nautanki' of Uttar Pradesh, 'Khyal' of Rajasthan and 'Mach' of Madhya Pradesh. And now, almost a fortnight later, on April 12 evening, the 92-year-old Zohra together with her 87-year-old sister Uzra, performed in one of the popular plays of our times, Aik Thee Nani. It is always great to see Zohra defying age. There is something special about her and that it would be wonderful if she wrote her autobiography. In fact, almost seven years back when I had gone down to her South Delhi apartment to interview her, I had sat almost bewitched hearing her tale, complete with all the twists and her facial expressions matching each one of those turns she had narrated, right from her joining the Prithvi theatres, to her marriage, her spouse's untimely death, leading to not just emotional chaos but financial lows, making her move to the UK and then getting back. I just couldn't take down any notes during that interview as I had been so taken up by her personality and her stark portrayal of the struggles she has gone through. Sahitya Akademi fellowship However much we may complain about this or that not happening
here in this capital city, the literary flow goes on unabated. This coming week, on April 18, the well known Hindi writer Nirmal Verma will be formally conferred with Sahitya Akademi fellowship by the Akademi President Dr Gopi Chand
Narang. Followed by ‘Samvad’, speeches by U.R. Anantha Murthy, Nand Kishore Acharya and Keki Daruwala. Moving on, this past fortnight, there have been two poetry evenings arranged by the Poetry Society of India at the India International Centre, complete with poets and poetry readings and, of course, the verse. I couldn't make it for the one held on April 7, though I have known poets of that evening, Devdas Chhotray and Prafula Mohanty. Both have jurisdictions beyond, in the sense, the former is a senior bureaucrat and the latter is a well known artist. Both hail from Orissa and talk and write nostalgically about people and places they yearn for. Those bygones in every sense of the term. So much so that though Mohanty has settled in London for decades, every year he comes down to spend two long months in his native village in Orissa. Coming to the evening of April 13, it belonged to poet Jeet Thayil. A poet of repute, he read several of his poems from his recently launched book, English (Penguin). Space does not permit me to write a stark verse of his. But I simply liked the way he spoke along, in the sense giving brief introductions to each of his poems and to the poetry scene at large. He told his audience that for some reason poets die young. He backed it up with facts and figures. His emotion was too glaring on his face. Together with that, Jeet mentioned that in the not so recent past, we have lost three of our best known poets. Jeet thankfully moved back from the US and is now Delhi based (after having lived in the US for years) and is presently working on an anthology of Indian poets. Meet on Gujarat riots Ghosts around Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi seem to be hovering strong. Forget the jolt he received from the cowboy belt of the world and one of his own uniformed men coming out with diary jottings. A full contingent of victims and witnesses of those riotous phase of Gujarat together with legal experts are addressing a gathering in New Delhi this weekend. It is being organised by three prominent bodies — SAHMAT, The Citizens for Justice and Peace and Human Rights Law Network. This meet is aptly called 'Flashback Gujarat 2002'. The victims and witnesses include Mrs Ahsan Jaffri, widow of the late Congressman Ahsan Jaffri, Rupabehn Modi, Syed Khan, Firoz Pathan, Nanumiya Malek and Rehana Vohra of the Naroda Gaon, Gulberg and Naroda Pattiya carnages would be speaking about the obvious disasters witnessed and suffered by them. Legal experts like Shanti Bhushan, Ram Jethmalani, Nitya Ramakrishnan, Mihir Desai, Shri Suhel Tirmizi will speak on issues of the State's accountability towards the rule of law, issues of police reform, witness protection, compensation and the role of the public prosecutor and so on. More focus on North-East Last week two films screened at the IIC focussed on Arunachal Pradesh. Titled 'The Green Warriors-Apatanis' by Jyoti Prasad Das, it dealt with the agricultural practices of the Apatani tribe. The second titled 'Between God and Me' by Moji Riba on priesthood and other
practices of the Adi Galo tribe of the state. And now there is news that a well known publishing house in New Delhi, -Katha, is organising a festival of literature on the
North-East. |
It is impossible for a person to see Me by the merit of sacrifice, austerity, charity or by the study of the Vedas or by performing the scriptural rites, if he is devoid of devotion to Me. — Rama Religion is that which sprouts from within you. It is not something stuffed from outside. — Swami A. Parthasarathy The four fruits or the four Purusharthas or goals of human life are: Dharma, righteous deeds; Artha, material riches gained by honest means; Kama, fulfilment of desires in accordance with Dharma; and Moksha, release from the bondage of wordly existence. — Hanumana There can be no salvation without dwelling upon the name of God. — Guru Nanak Such is your greatness, bounteous Lord! Within you are endless forms. Millions are in your million. Or you are a billion in yourself. — The Vedas  |
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