Indian Church leaders slam ‘false campaign’ against missionaries
Hindu groups affiliated with ruling BJP alleged a ‘missionary conspiracy’ behind celebration of indigenous people’s day
Updated: August 10, 2024
Church leaders have criticized fringe elements in India’s ruling pro-Hindu party for giving a “communal color” to the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples celebrations in the country, which has the second-largest tribal population in the world.
The day was celebrated in different parts of the country on Aug. 9.
However, the Akhil Bharatiya Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram (all India tribal welfare body), alleged that “external forces and Christian missionaries in India are hatching up a large-scale conspiracy to divide society in the name of the celebration.”
The organization is affiliated with the ultranationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is considered the mother organization of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Its president Satyendra Singh said on Aug. 8 that the celebration was meant for “other countries like America, Australia, New Zealand and Canada” and had no relevance for India.
“All people of our country are indigenous to this land, and we are now free from the clutches of colonial forces,” Singh said.
Observing the international day whose theme this year is ‘Protecting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact’ has nothing to do with any religion, said Father Vincent Ekka.
“Blaming Christian missionaries of a conspiracy is misleading,” the Jesuit priest told UCA News on Aug. 9.
Ekka, who heads the tribal studies department in the Church-run Indian Social Institute in the national capital New Delhi, said Hindu groups are afraid that the tribal people may become aware of their rights “and may revolt.”
The RSS has been campaigning against Christian missionary activities among tribal people and their conversion to Christianity.
Its affiliate organizations run a nationwide campaign called Ghar Wapsi (homecoming) to convert tribal people and Dalits or former untouchables and bring them into the Hindu religion.
“Blaming Christian missionaries is purely a political agenda [for them], said Ekka who belongs to the Oraon tribal community in the central state of Chhattisgarh.
The Jesuit appealed to fellow tribal people not to fall prey to the “false campaign.”
India’s tribal people make up 8.6 percent of its 1.4 billion people, according to the last Census conducted in 2011.
The RSS and its fringe elements always come up with “new ideas to attack Christian missionaries,” said Ratan Tirkey, a former member of the tribal advisory committee in eastern Jharkhand state, which has a large tribal population.
“Will they recognize the contributions made by Christian missionaries” for the welfare of the tribal people, the Catholic lay leader asked.
In the name of development, tribal people are “pushed out from their own lands and are being forced to migrate,” Archbishop Vincent Aind of Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand.
“Time has come that we understand our rights, educate our people, and raise our voices,” the prelate, who is from the Oraon community, said.
