NEW DELHI, India: The RSS plan to disrupt the church work among India’s tribal, which have been exploited by Hindus for centuries, was busted by a young Jesuit priest, Father John Larka.
The tribes, who number around 10 million, were the original inhabitants of India who were pushed into the hills and forests by ‘Aryan invaders from the north thousands of years ago.
The RSS has become more active building temples after years ‘of doing nothing, opening schools and ashrams (retreats), the Archbishop said.
Now they are telling the tribal that they are really Hindus, calling. Christians antiunion and antinational, he said.
The upsurge in activity worried one young Jesuit priest, Father Joha Larka, who recently published what he said was a leaked secret RSS plan to disrupt church ‘work and win tribal converts back to Hinduism,
Police have accused him and another priest of inciting communal tension by exposing the plan. They face three years jail if convicted.
The RSS denied having any plan and called the document a fake.
The Archbishop concedes it may have been foolish to publish the 8point plan but he believes the church should make a stand. The time has come to speak out, Father Larka tried to speak out and they shut his mouth, he said.
State government officials reject accusations of pro Hindu bias in the administration and police.
Yet leading tribal outside the church complain that tribal, and by implication Christians, have traditionally bad a raw deal at the hands of the ruling Hindu establishment
This has spawned tribal independence movements which have mounted protests and civil disobedience campaigns for a separate tribal state, Jharkhand to be carved out of Bibar and three adjoining states.
“The church has laid great stress on education and improving the lot of the tribals, according to Father Pratab Toppo, head of church school.
The tribal have been exploited for years. It will take time for them to catch up, but with education some are beginning to advance and take up posts reserved for them under government job and education quota schemes, he said.
He said such progress frightened some Hindus who wanted to maintain their superiority and keep the tribal down.
The situation is getting worse. ‘The RSS is spoiling for a fight, he said.
The RSS, whose members murdered Mahatma Gandhi in 1948 for agreeing to let Moslems carve Pakistan out of India, declined to comment.
The organization, which gives paramilitary training to some of its claimed three million members, has accused the 12million strong Catholic Church in India of bribing people to convert to Christianity.
Christians say the RSS is concerned to prevent further conversions among India’s 100 million untouchables and total 68 million tribal, two economically and socially backward groups long targeted by missionaries.
They say mass conversions would upset the balance between India’s 650 million Hindus, 80 million Moslems and total 16 million Christians Clergyman says, however, that they are determined to carry out their mission despite religious or ‘government opposition.
Overall we are not worried, if ‘the church wants to be true to itself in a corrupt state like Bihar it is bound to come up against the system. If it makes us take a stand this whole thing could be a blessing in disguise, the Archbishop said.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 22, 1986
