(Courtesy India Today 4-15-94)
EVEN while a scarred nation is yet to put the shame of the Ayodhya demolition behind the Hindu Munnani (Hindu Front), an organization founded by an RSS worker, has targeted a church for destruction in Pondicherry.
The contention of the Munnani is that the Immaculate Conception Cathedral is built of the and where the Vedapurreeswarar (Shiva) temple stood before it was pulled down by the French colonizers in 1748 This claim is based on the diary of a meticulous chronicler of the period, Anandarangam Pillai.
The church’s clergy admit to the demolition, but say that the church had existed adjacent to the temple Acconting to the Archbishop of Ponilichemy, Father Michacl Augustine; “The diary says the then governor’s troops had attacked the temple from within the church that stood next door.”
The Munnani kicked off its campaign dramatically on February 8 when two of its members lit camphor near the church altar as a token of the “commencement of kar seva”’ to rebuild the temple, Soon after, the Christians started mobilizing their supporters. At the two-day Christian Unity Conference held in Madurai last fortnight, the Sangh brotherhood was criticized for “polluting the south with ins evil designs”.
The administration promptly posted units of the CRPF and the BSF, and stationed a police post outside the church, Chief Minister V. Vaithilingum, while dismissing it as a non-issue, asserts he will not take any chances and adds the Sangh “cannot alter the unique blend of communal harmony which has existed here for centuries”.
The Munnani now plans to paste posters all over the city, urging Hindus unite and reclaim the temple site. The Munnani’s General Secretary V. Selvam says the group’s state executive will decide the future course of action at its meeting next month, ‘And, he adds ominously: “Our next target will be the Velankanni church in Nagapattinam (Tamil Nadu) and churches at Bagur and Karaikal (Pondicherry)-all were built after demolishing temples.”
—P.M. SWAMY
Article extracted from this publication >> June 10, 1994
