REPLIES TO QUESTIONNAIRE

Herewith I beg to submit the replies of the Catholic Sabha of the Raigarh district to the Questionnaire issued by your Committee.

I am,

Yours faithfully,

(Illegible),

President, Catholic Sabha of Raigarh district,
Ginabahar, Kunkuri P. O.,
Raigarh district.

These answers are given by the Committee of the Catholic Sabha, representing the Catholics of the districts of Raigarh and Surguja, in pursuance of a resolution passed at their meeting of the 9th January 1954, at Ginabahar. They refer chiefly to the Jashpur Sub-Division, where Catholics are numerous. They relate exclusively to the Catholic community.

Before we answer to any particular question, we beg leave to make a query ourselves: “What is the aim of this Questionnaire?” We ought to suppose that the members of the Committee desire to ascertain the facts, and nothing but the facts. Yet, it seems absolutely evident that these questions, as they are framed, are calculated to elicit as many accusations as possible against missionaries and against Christians. Are we to surmise that, during their “exploratory tours”, the members of the Committee have found so little that can damage our reputation that now they must address themselves to every fanatic, and suggest what accusations should be made”.

Surely, the members of the Committee are fully aware that such a series of veiled charges-for often these are not questions, but scarcely veiled accusations-is a potent means to exacerbate sectarian feeling, and to incite religious fanatics to lay charges against those whom they dislike, yes, false charges without number.

With such a method the Committee will find it easy to accumulate a huge mass of unproven accusations. Will these be taken as evidence of our guilt, or as proof of the intolerance of certain communalistic elements?

What renders the case worse is that. on this occasion. the accusers know quite well that they have the sympathy of the police. of petty officials, yea, of the Madhya Pradesh Government.

The irrelevancy of many of these questions is glaring; no less glaring is their anti-Christian bias. Several of them contain stinging insults to our priests, and to us, Adivasis. We can describe them only as “nasty”.

1. What is the total population of Christians and non-Christians-
(a) Scheduled Castes, (b) Scheduled Tribes, and (c) Others-in your district in 1947, 1951 and 1954, respectively?

2. What reasons do you attribute to the rise or fall in the population as given above?

Answer: The Census figures of 1951 should provide an answer to this question. But these figures have been cooked. The 1951 Census enumerates only 9,692 Christians in the Jashpur tahsil, every one knows there were many more.

The 1931 and 1941 censuses put the number of tribals in the Jashpur tahsil at 65.9 and 63.9 per cent of the total population, respectively. In the 1951 Census, the figure has dropped to 33.7 per cent.

The reasons are not far to seek: simply tampering with the true figures. Was this abetted by the Madhya Pradesh Government? Certainly, the Madhya Pradesh Government based itself on these false figures, when it had the tribal reserved seat taken away from the Jashpur tahsil. We believe that this seat was taken away precisely because Christians are too numerous on this side.

6. What are the organisations in your district engaged in the work of conversion? Do the agent of these organisations approach the people individually?.

(1) The police and certain officials
(2) The Adivasi Welfare Department
(3) The All-India Vaidik Shuddhi Samaj of a certain Swami Ramanuj Saraswati;
(4) The Arya Samaj; and
(5) Certain Christian Missions.

7. Please give a complete idea of the working of such organizations. How are pracharaks recruited, and where do they come from? What are their emoluments? Are rewards offered for successful work?

Answer: The chief methods of the police and minor officials are force and fraud, bullying and terrorisation, threats of jail and loss of land trumping up false court cases against priests and prominent Christians.

The methods of the Adivasi Welfare Department are: attempts at Hinduizing through schools, giving evidence in court against Christians, stirring up communal animosity, laying false charges.

The methods of Swami Ramanuj are the spreading of the most shameless lies in the press and through fly sheets; for instance, that the Christians are gathering and hiding in the woods, arms and ammunition, against an eventual rising; frightening poor people into re-conversion by threats of loss of land; also offering to give land; offering fabulous salaries to would-be converts to Hinduism.

The methods of the Christian missionaries are service of the neighbour, persuasion, never force or fraud.

8. What, to your knowledge, are the methods used for conversion? Are any of the following methods used?:-
(a) Advancing loans. If so, what are the terms on which loans are advanced?
(b) Promising or providing free medical facilities?
(c) Giving free education to children?
(d) Promising help in litigation?
(e) Promising relief from social disabilities suffered in ancestral religion or class, and a better social status as Christians?
(f) Offering employment?
(g) Holding out hopes of better marriages and greater social freedom?
(h) Extolling Christianity and foreign culture?
(i) Threatening danger of damnation to unconverted souls?
(j) Extolling Jesus Christ and decrying non-Christian deities?
(k) Holding out hopes of political advantage?
(l) Threatening social boycott and harassment?
(m) Other fraudulent and unfair means?

How often, of late, have we heard it said that conversion is a matter of conviction and of change of heart. Yes, it is that, for a man’s soul is his own, and no man can make him believe against his will and internal assent.

In the course of these answers, we shall have to mention attempts at forcing people to change their religion, or frightening them into abandoning their faith. Such people are victims and not converts.

To us, a convert is a man that truly believes in Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church will accept no other converts. And true belief or true internal conviction has nothing to do with what you dub “methods”.

We beg to point out that what in the first instance induced a man to enquire, and to give his attention to the Christian message is a different thing from what finally determines his internal belief. This is not a subtle distinction but a plain fact.

Now suppose, merely for the sake of argument, that any of the things which you enumerate under (a) to (g) had first attracted a poor enquirer towards the Christian faith, where would be the crime? What human law, what moral or divine law would be, or any one else, have violated?

We desire to draw your special attention to item (e) “promising relief from social disabilities suffered in ancestral religion and class, and a better social status as Christians”.

Don’t you think that it is with a very bad grace that you should wax indignant against us, when we try to escape from the yoke which caste Hindus have fastened for so many centuries on untouchables and Adivasis.

Surely, we are entitled to try and seek relief from such disabilities. And, even now, what do you offer to us, Adivasis? You say that you will welcome us in the Hindu fold. We know only too well what rank you will assign us there. And then you pretend to be horrified, if we seek “relief from social disabilities”.

You are at pains to prove that the conversion of the Adivasis to the Catholic faith is due to certain “methods”, which you deem worthy of censure. You imagine, that a host of priests swooped down on us, and we, “simple” Adivasis, fell victims to the wiles of those designing individuals.

This is an utter travesty of the true facts. The truth is that the preachers of the Catholic faith did not come to us, but that we went to them. We ourselves, often at considerable risk, managed to pierce the iron curtain, which, in the olden days, the rajas had fastened on the frontiers of their States. It is more than seventy years ago that some of our forefathers walked many miles to go and seek the ministers of Christ across the State boundaries, and besought them to come here.

Again, in the early years of the 20th century, our fathers made several attempts to induce Catholic priests to come to Jashpur. Deputation after deputation was sent to them, but it was only in 1907 that Catholic priests did come to visit us. For eight years they had no house to live in.

You want to believe that schools, hospitals, social uplift work and the like were “methods” to entice us into Christian fold. These things came int6 existence long after we had spontaneously given our adherence to Christianity.

What were the motives that animated our fathers when they sought Christ’s ministers? This may or may not be relevant. But we shall not deny that the yoke they bore in those days weighed intolerably heavy on their shoulders, that forced labour and police exactions made their lives miserable, and that they sorely longed for relief. But they also desired to escape from the fear of evil spirits, and sought in Christianity a purer and a more soul-satisfying religion.

If, through our adherence to the Catholic faith, we have found deliverance from tyranny, and an improved moral, social and economic status, that redounds to the honour and glory of the Catholic Church and of her ministers, not to their discredit.

But what we want to emphasize most emphatically is that we have freely embraced the Catholic faith, and have entered the Christian fold with our eyes open. In our land, the Christian priest is not an intruder, who surreptitiously, or by force or fraud, stole his way into our villages. We ourselves, time and again, have begged and besought him to come and preach to us the message of Christ. It may be true that some of those who held us in bond-age, resented his coming, because they dreaded lest the Christian faith would make us conscious of our human dignity, and would teach us to stand up for our rights. But we, Adivasis of this land, we did go across the frontiers to call the Catholic priests, we constrained them to come to us, and we protected them when their lives were threatened.

There were no “methods” of conversion in your sense; we freely chose to embrace the Christian religion, just as today, in the face of some pressure, we freely choose to persevere in that religion.

Answer: We strongly protest against this dishonest manner of identifying Christianity with foreign culture. Such identification is absolutely unwarranted. We are Adivasis and Christians, and we rejoice in our Indian culture. No one has ever extolled to us foreign culture.

Answer: The question is unfairly put. We do extol Jesus Christ, for with all true Christians, we believe that He is the Son of God made Man and very God Himself, and we do not believe in non-Christian deities.

But we do not “decry” such deities. The question seems to insinuate that we, or our priests, go about the street and hurt the feelings of other people by insulting their “deities”. The respect every man’s honest belief, and do our best to give pain to no one.

We cannot say that the propagators of Hinduism in these parts do show the same respect for our honest convictions.

Answer: It is rather funny that this helfire business should interest the Committee. It holds a very small place in the mind of the Christians. We have never yet come across a priest that went about threatening eternal damnation to any one. Such threats exist only in the minds of the enemies of Christianity. The Christian message is one of love and not of damnation.

But, if the Committee really wish to know what is the Catholic doctrine in the matter, here it is for their edification: however, we would insist that, though we hold these things very firmly, we are not in the habit of shouting them on the housetops to every passer-by.

We hold that liars, thieves, murderers, swearers of false oaths, adulterers, oppressors of the poor, destroyers of the good name of others, and such like people, unless they repent with their whole heart, and crave the divine forgiveness, are not worthy of eternal bliss, but rather deserve eternal punishment.

But please notice, we do not say that they shall be damned. We believe in God’s grace and in the mercy of Christ, who can change the sinner’s heart. To God alone, so we think, it belongs to determine an immortal soul's eternal fate.

No sane Christian has ever said that all Hindus or all non-Christians go to hell. What we hold and believe is that all those, who sincerely follow their conscience, shall receive God’s reward; that all those, who, knowing the truth, refuse to follow it, deserve the divine chastisement.

That, to our way of thinking, is fairly reasonable, and, we do not see why any one should take offence at it.

Answer: The questioner is blest with a remarkable imagination, if fie honestly fancies that a tiny minority, the object of so much obloquy and slander, can promise political advantages to its adherents. It is the other way about.

Answer: The members of the Committee cannot be unaware that the shoe is on the other foot. It is we that are threatened with harassment, and would to God there was merely a question of threats. The harassments are real. Being dragged to the courts on false charges, losing one’s lands, being bullied by the police, losing one’s employment through which one earned one’s daily bread, these are not only threats,

It is the Madhya Pradesh Government that proposed that we, because we are Christians, stall no longer be regarded as Tribals. This is not boycott, perhaps? The same Government recently issued a circular, reminding us of their decision that members of backward classes, who have become Christians, shall be denied scholarships and other favours to which backward classes are entitled. Is this boycott? It is not irony, it is barefaced impertinence to ask whether we Christians threaten other people with boycott and harassment, when we are made to suffer these things every day.

How many literate people (persons of the matriculation standard and above), and how many well-to-do people (persons with an annual income of Rs. 1,000 and above) have been converted in your district since 1947?

Answer: We look on this question as outrageous. Does it imply that only matriculates and persons with an income of Rs. 1,000 and above are entitled to choose their religion, and are they alone to enjoy freedom of conscience? We have more respect for the dignity that belongs to every human being.

We desire to remind the members of the Committee of the fact that, before we embraced the Catholic faith, there were no matriculates in this part of the country. It is due to the devoted labours of our priests and nuns, and to our own determination to raise ourselves, that some of us are matriculates now, and B.A.’s also.

But it has become the fashion for some people even for Ministers of the Madhya Pradesh Government, to tell us that we simple Adivasis, are not fit to choose a religion; and, therefore, we have not the right to embrace the Catholic faith.

If that is their honest persuasion, let them be consequent with themselves, and let them prevent the Arya Samaj, the police, the Welfare Department and others from stampeding us into Hinduism. And by what “methods”?

Whatever you may say, during all these centuries, we, Adivasis, have stayed out of the Hindu fold-you know very well that we do not worship the cow-and for us to become Hindus is just as much a conversion as it is to become Christians. If you are sincere, please do put a stop to all this noisy and violent Hindu propaganda.

The Constitution has given us political rights. We have the franchise and may cast our vote, even our womenfolk. So you admit that we have reached a degree of political maturity, and that we know what is good for us and for our country. But, in the matter of religion, which concerns us most intimately, we are to remain your wards, we are to profess the religion that you design to choose for us.

Many cultured Hindus, possibly some of the members of this Committee, do us, Adivasis, the grievous wrong of regarding us as sub-human. This we fiercely resent.

It is true that, for centuries, we have been backward and have suffered oppression. At whose hands, we need not say. But we are human beings, and we can judge what is good for us, in matters both temporal and spiritual. We are not infants. We want to be free; free to lead our lives as we choose: free to enjoy our fields and the fruit of our labours; free from the bullyings of the police, and the landlords, and the petty officials, and the rajas; free also to profess the religion of our choice.

We never were Hindus, and if we do not choose to become Hindus, you have no right to penalize us; and, if we choose to become Christians, we do no more than use a right, that belongs to all human beings, and that is solemnly guaranteed in the Constitution' of our country-for this is our country as much as it is yours.

We would tell the members of the Committee the story of a convert who was not a matriculate, nor did he have an income of Rs. 1,000 or above. He was a “simple” man, with plenty of common sense, and he had become a Christian when of mature age. The police were very zealous in their attempts at re-converting him, but both threats and cajolings proved vain. Finally an official tried to argue:

“Why be a Christian”, he said. “Your priests give you schools for your children and assistance in your troubles. The Government is far more powerful, it will give you better schools and loans on easy terms, and many more things………”.

The “simple” man answered: “Yes, I have heard these promises often, but I see nothing coming. Let that be. What we want is to save our souls. Even if the Government gave us what you promise, would it save our souls?”

The official’s answer was a volley of abuse. But abuse is not argument. The old man knew what he was about, and he had the better of the official, who possibly was a passed or a failed matric, and had an income of Rs. 1,000 per annum and above.

11. Do you think that conversion to Christianity adversely affects the national loyalty and outlook of converts. Give instances and state reasons.

Answer: This question is unjust, and offensive, extremely so. The present Prime Minister of India, many a time and, recently, in a gracious message addressed to a large Catholic gathering at Bombay, declared that we Christians are part and parcel of the Indian nation, as much as Hindus, and Muslims, and Sikhs and others. But the members of this Committee will suspect us of disloyalty, and they invite accusations-slanderous accusations -against us.

We can only say that we are Indians, that we love our land and our nation, that we have no other country, that we have not the slightest connection with any other country. By what right can Hindus claim the monopoly of loyalty to the motherland?

In view of the fact that our sons and brothers are doing, and for years have done, loyal service in the India army, the suggestion is simply slanderous and mischievous,

12. Where does Christian preaching with a view to conversion usually take place? Do you know of this being done in any of the following:-(a) Houses of individuals and mukhyas in villages, (b) schools, (c) hospitals, (d) orphanages and other charitable institutions, (e) bazars, (f) fairs, (g) churches, (h) any other places?

Answer: Does such a question really deserve an answer? Does the constitution forbid the preaching of religion in any of the places mentioned? If anyone can prove that we disturb the peace, or go out of our way to hurt the feelings of others, let him do so.

But the Committee may be interested in the following edifying details about the preaching of, Hinduism in this district.

Boko Sardar, who under the spiritual guidance of Swami Ramanuja Saraswati, is a very zealous propagator of Hinduism, at Tangergaon entered the Catholic village chapel, and to persuade the people of the superiority of his creed, defiled the chapel by urinating in it all round the walls.

The same Boko, with a party of Hindus, entered another Catholic village chapel, and there sang kirtans.

During the Janpad election campaign, end of 1953, the Ram Rajya Parishad, on the pretext of political propaganda, in several bazars of this Sub-division, poured forth the foulest insults and calumnies against the Catholic religion and its ministers.

And the next question asks whether “such preaching” offended the religious sensibilities of people. Yes, we were offended, and grievously so. Boko’s kirtan exploit is before the court, but not his feat at Tangergaon.

13. Has such preaching offended the sensibilities of people of other religions? If so, has it resulted in unpleasant consequences?

Answer: We suggest that the question is not fairly put. The question ought to ask whether the Christian faith was preached in such a manner that people had a right to be offended. But this is assumed. You object to all, preaching, do you?

That communalists and fanatics and people who object to the granting of freedom of conscience to anyone but themselves, have taken offence, may be true enough.

But who is to blame for that? Is it those that simply use a constitutional right, or those that would deny other people the freedom sanctioned by the law of the land? Why blame us for the intolerant spirit displayed by others?

If there have been unpleasant consequences, the blame does not lie at our door, but at the door of a bunch of religious fanatics. And it is unbeseeming that the Committee should appear to encourage those people in their attempts at bringing about “unpleasant consequences”.

14. Do foreign missionaries also use such Language, or is it only Indian Pracharaks?

Answer: We are not aware that any Catholic preacher, whether Indian or non-Indian, ever used language that could give offence. But we must once again tell the Committee that the shoe is on the other foot. It is Swami Ramanuj Saraswati, Boko Sardar, the speakers of the Ram Rajya Parishad, who specialize in vile abuse of the Catholic religion.

Answer: The salaries of pracharaks are very small, far smaller than are offered to Hindu pracharaks in these parts. For instance, at Lureg, there is a Catholic pracharak, whose salary is probably below Rs. 30 Per month. He was offered Rs. 200 per month, with a bicycle into the bargain, if he would renounce his faith and turn Hindu pracharak.

As far as we know, it is not the custom to give special rewards “for the successful propagation of the faith”. But if the Committee intend making a suggestion, we agree that it is a sound one, and we will ask our priests seriously to consider it.

There seems to be confusion about the term “pracharak”. With us. Catholics, the word has a fairly broad meaning. Generally, it designates a village leader, whose task it is to gather the Catholics on Sundays for a religious service and common prayer. He is an ordinary villager, possibly more intelligent than the rest, but without special training. He has been chosen for his moral standing in the community and for his qualities of leadership. His salary is nil, but, at times, he receives Rs. 3 per month as travelling allowance.

There are very few pracharaks that are whole-time religious workers, probably, not ten in the entire Jashpur Sub-Division. These men have received some training in religious knowledge. It is their duty to teach prayers and religion to children, and to be of general assistance to the parish Frequently, they know the elements of medicine, and, thus, can render much service to Christians and to non-Christians in a country, where medical relief hardly exists. Their salary is rarely above Rs. 30 per month, if it is as high as that.

As to religious literature, it should be obvious to the Committee that printed matter is fairly unimportant in an area, where illiteracy is the rule, and literacy the exception. We have our prayer books, hymn books, bibles, catechisms, which can be had in bookshops anywhere.

21. Do you know of cases where patients or school children were refused help at critical stages, unless they got themselves converted? If so, mention names of individuals and institutions concerned.

Answer: This question, as so many others in this Questionnaire, is an echo of slanders spread by fanatics. We regard it as deeply offensive and as a stinging insult.

No such accusation has ever been proved, nor had we heard it before these days when communal passions have been aroused.

The members of the Committee have visited the little Catholic Hospital of Muskutri, right away in the jungle. Latterly, the Circle inspector of the Adivasi Welfare Department of Sanna, sent an accusation to his headquarters at Nagpur, stating that the Sister and the Father at Muskutri had refused treatment to a woman, mauled by a tiger, unless the husband and the victim agreed to become Christians. The man and the woman, so ran the story, refused. The victim was taken away and died.

The Deputy Commissioner of Raigarh ordered an investigation. On the day before the Sub-Divisional Officer of Police arrived, before the enquiry, the daroga, so it would seem, summoned the husband and another man, kept them confined the whole night, and, with the usual threats and cajolements, tried to induce them to accuse the Father and the Sister. These men said, “ji, han” to every suggestion of the policeman, but, the next morning, they spoke the truth, and so the whole thing collapsed.

We have not heard that the Circle Officer, responsible for this slander, has in any way been reprimanded or punished for the grave wrong he had done. Indeed, why speak of punishment? He had done what some people expected him to do. But this time the vile trick failed.

Answer: We do not know about any fairs. But, on certain occasions, we do meet in large numbers, for instance, for processions or at Christmas and Easter for solemn religious services, all in the church grounds. Oil such occasions, we pray, together and sing our hymns, and, perhaps, listen to a sermon.

After the religious exercises there may be drumming and dances, and merry-making. These things used to offend no one, and they can offend only such, as object to our very existence.

Latterly, we have noticed that, on such occasions, the police patrol the church grounds. Whether they have reported anything very treasonable we do not know.

23. Do missionaries and pracharaks make reference to the Central and the State Governments in India or to foreign Governments? If so, what is the nature of such references? Please give specific instances.

Answer: Neither our priests, nor our pracharaks, nor we ourselves bother our heads about foreign governments. This question is simply the echo of a stupid slander.

Do the Committee wish to know whether we and our priests have the audacity of criticising the Government? Such criticism may be a criminal offence in Russia, but it is generally regarded as a democratic right in civilised countries, and is certainly generously indulged in here in India.

The Fathers and Sisters are not addicted to criticising the Government of India, that is not their line. But it is quite possible that they have expressed on more than one occasion their dissatisfaction with the ways of the Madhya Pradesh Government. If the think and say that the Madhya Pradesh Government does not treat, Christians justly, then they have said no more than we do say ourselves.

Surely, the very Ministers of Madhya Pradesh Government will not pretend that it is just to refuse recognition to all our primary schools. Right or wrong, the Chief Minister simply says, “I will not recognise them”. When the question of appealing to our constitutional right in regard to our schools was mooted, a good Government officer put it this way: “Do not appeal to that. If a person is married with a bad wife, he must live with her……” The implication is clear.

Does the Questionnaire want to imply that our priests foster disloyalty by comparing the Indian Government to certain foreign Governments?

In that case, the answer is, that no one has ever heard them making such comparisons. Neither they nor we are interested in foreign Governments.

24. Are there non-Christian agencies in your district encased in the work of re-conversion? If so, please name them. What are their methods and what success do they meet with? Do they offer any inducements? If so, what?

(1) The police and certain officials;
(2) The Adivasi Welfare Department;
(3) The All-India Vaidik Shuddhi Samaj of Swami Ramanuj Saraswati, helped by a certain Boko Sardar, and Shri R. K. Deshpande, Pleader, under the auspices of the Ram Rajya Parishad; and
(4) The Arya Samaj.

(1) The police display great zeal in trumping up false cases against priests and prominent Christians. And, whenever it is rumoured that a person contemplates becoming a Christian, the police are on the spot to “enquire”-as if a person's religion were the business of the police! Police enquiries may be very disagreeable to the persons concerned.

One method of the police is to catch hold of people, confine them in some room, till they “freely” sign some document, or agree to inculpate a priest or a Christian. Thus, in the case of Muskutri, already mentioned; also in the Lodma Theatrical Case, which we shall mention later; also in the Kunkuri Buffalo Case, which can be briefly stated thus:

Next to the Catholic High School, lay a wounded buffalo. The school had absolutely nothing to do with the matter. The owner of the animal and some people of his village were summoned to Kunkuri, illegally confined, and pressed by the daroga to sign a paper that the fault lay with the Fathers of Kunkuri. As usual, these men were not even allowed to go out to satisfy a call of nature. Yet, the trick failed.

At present, several cases are pending before the courts, in which the police have displayed great zeal. During the previous fifty years, there had just been three cases instituted against priests, and, in all the three, the verdict was “not guilty”. But, now, all of a sudden our priests have become a criminal tribe, guilty of the gravest offences, even threat of murder.

Ever sane man in the district knows that the aim is to destroy the prestige of good man. The attempt is stupid, because Christians and non-Christians alike, know the true facts. They imagine that, if they can get a priest in jail, especially a European priest, there will he an end, to the Christian religion. Such attempts at besmirching the good name of our priests can hurt only the slanderers.

Perhaps, it may interest the Committee, if we try to trace the origin of this unholy police campaign, and of these attempts to paint our priests as criminals. In 1952, or in the beginning of 1953 the Madhya Pradesh Government sent to the Central Government a report filled with the wildest accusations against missionaries. This report seems to have occasioned the now notorious, pronouncement of Dr. Katju in the Lok Sabha, a pronouncement that caused a great intensification of the anti-Christian press campaign.

In the course of time, the charges made by the Madhya Pradesh Government were duly answered, and so, this Government had now to substantiate its accusations. Shall we be rash if we surmise that local officers were commissioned to do this job? At all events, at the end of May and in the beginning of June, the then Deputy Commissioner of Raigarh, undertook a tour in these parts, and, strange to say, exactly following his trail arose a series of trumped-up charges against priests and Christians. A hint (or was it more than a him?), received from higher up, supplies a ready explanation for the sudden outburst of zeal on the part of the police and of the employees of the Adivasi Welfare Department.

We may add that this very Deputy Commissioner demeaned himself to browbeating in person a poor Ahir widow and her grandchildren, who had become Christians. This case was laid before the Committee in June.

(2) The methods of the Adivasi Welfare Department. - It is openly admitted that the Adivasi Schools are Hindu and hinduizing schools. Little Budhu Tigga is entered as Budhu Ram, and this is proof that he is a Hindu.

Teachers and officers of the Welfare Department seem to specialize in laying charges and giving evidence in the courts against priests and Christians. They also are active in stirring up communal feeling; the following incident took place at Saraitoli recently :-

The Catholic Mission had acquired a plot of land. The Welfare Circle Organizer of Sanna, at five in the morning and in pouring rain, led a party of pupils of the Adivasi School to do puja and erect a devasthan on a strip of waste land right in the midst of the church ground.

Naturally the Christians protested. Every one in the place is well aware that there had never existed a devasthan on that spot. But the Circle Organizer, abetted by the police and by Mr. V. Joshi, Sub-Divisional Officer, pretend it is old devasthan and so the fat is in the fire.

(3) The methods of Swami Ramanuj Saraswati, Boko Sardar and R. K. Deshpande and consorts are of particular interest.

Swami Ramanuj is a sadhu, who is said to have good reasons for not showing himself in Orissa. In this State be specializes in giving “press conferences” at Nagpur, where lie “reveals” the monstrous crimes of the missionaries, and implores the Government to protect the safety of the State against the dark schemes of these plotters. He gets a certain class of Newspapers to print that these wicked men are accumulating weapons and ammunition in view of an eventual rising, that is, to establish Christiansthan, on the model of Pakisthan. India faces the danger of another division.

A couple of months ago, the Sadhu discovered that the Dutch Ambassador had paid a visit to the Lureg Church, and speeches were made there and Swami Ramanuj knew who were the speakers and what they bad said, and he revealed it all for publication in the Hitavada, a paper that seems always ready to print his slanders. Unhappily a little later the Hitavada had to eat its words and had to publish that no Dutch Ambassador had been within a thousand miles of Lurek. So then all the reasonable things, which the Sadhu had “revealed”, were not spoken after all, and, possibly, were fabricated by Swami Ramanuj.

This holy man has, as his helper here in Jashpur, a man that goes by the name of Boko Sardar, and that is said to be a son of the late grandfather of the ex-ruler. Boko is certainly an ex-convict and has served a long term in jail for attempting to murder two Catholic priests. And he is said to be generally drunk. He, with the Swami, will drive into a village in a jeep; there, he will widely rush about, dagger in hand, and utter fierce threats. Then some people are got hold of, and Boko pours forth a flood of abuse against the Catholic priest and the Catholic faith; he threatens the poor men with loss of their lands and he will even seize them by the throat, so much so, that, on one occasion, even the Sadhu is said to have remonstrated against these, all too strenuous, ways of imparting religious instruction.

Finally, the men are made to set their thumb impression to a paper which states that they “freely renounce Christianity”. We are told that the Swami also tells these men, before they give their thumb impression, that they are acting absolutely freely.

Then their heads are shaven, a little “chundi” being left; they are given a Hindu name and their conversion is complete. Certainly the period of probation and instruction has not been unduly protracted.

As to threats of loss of land we may say that certain Christians used to have on lease land that belonged to the ex-ruler. Boko is the manager of these fields, which have been taken away from the Christians and let out to non-Christians. We are told that we have no right to complain, because the raja can let his lands to whomsoever he pleases. And that is said by people that grow so vocal about “baits”. Also, a few Christians held the little job of raja’s bhandari (storekeeper at the Barns). We know at least of one case where the man was dismissed after lie had refused to rum Hindu; and we believe that several have lost their jobs for the same reason.

You ask how many were thus re-converted. We know of some sixty, and not one of these was a matriculate or had an income of Rs. 1,000 per annum. Or do you advocate that standard only when there is question of conversion to Christianity? Of these sixty men, thus freely converted to Hinduism, three have persevered and have been given lands. All the others, practically at once after their “re-conversion”, expressed regret for an act of weakness done under duress, and offered to repair their fault.

Perhaps we may tell you about one case that has a special interest. Swami Ramanuj and Boko had been operating at Tangergaon 'm the manner described above, and had made a little bunch of converts. Their heads had been shaven and they had received a Hindu name, and their fields would not be confiscated, and they would be rewarded with more lands, and all the rest. Unhappily, though these conversions were absolutely free and the outcome of a change of heart, by no means the result of force and fraud as when people become Christians, the converts did not persevere on the road they had taken with such enthusiasm. Among them was a certain Victor. Like the rest he was rather ashamed of himself and regretted having yielded to threats. After making pubic reparation he went to another village, with the perfectly legitimate object of escaping the further attentions of the Swami and of Boko. Soon after, he enlisted in a labour gang for service outside the State.

At Tangergaon every one was perfectly aware of these facts and knew the man’s whereabouts. Possibly, the police did not know; at any rate, several times the police came along and tried to persuade Victor’s wife to lodge a complaint against the Fathers for kidnapping her husband.

The poor woman did not take the bait, but the case was too manifestly a foul crime perpetrated by the Father, that it could not be left unnoticed. A while ago the Hitavada of Nagpur carried the following piece of information: “In the village of Tangergaon a certain Mr. Victor had disappeared. (For the occasion the paper “mistered” him). He had recently been converted to Hinduism and had been given a Hindu name. There is strong suspicion that the missionaries have kidnapped him……”

We beg the Committee to bear with us if we give them still more ample information concerning the methods of re-converting Christians.

At Lureg and Patthalgaon the Swami has at his disposal the Hindu Dharm Raksa Dal; the Arya Samaj and the Hindu Mahasabha also seem to flourish in these places. Here one way is to organize morchas against the Christians, and to shout “Down with the Christian religion”, “Clear out”, “Go to Pakisthan”, “No room for you in India”……

At Lureg, on the 25th July 1954, a prominent Christian was murdered in a particularly brutal manner, and it is widely surmised that anti-Christian hatred was one of the incentives to the crime.

Some time after the murder, there was a morcha, and a small group of excited people went and shouted slogans in front of the houses of the Christians, and, in particular, before the house of the bereaved widow. And one of the leaders of the group was a man whom the entire neighbourhood suspects of being the instigator of the deed.

A piquant details: whilst this murder case is before the sessions, a complaint is lodged against the priest of Lureg and his catechist for having

incited people to murder a certain Hindu. These people really overshoot the mark: if at least they had sense enough to accuse us of things that have some grain of probability!

At Lureg, the Swami uses as catechist a certain H. Siddiqui, who is, or was, a Muslim. Years ago, he was daroga in the Jashpur State, which he left very suddenly for reasons best known to himself. This zealous preacher of Hinduism, on one occasion, went to a Christian tola, and using the methods his police carrier has made him familiar with, re-converted several householders, securing their thumb impressions to some sort of paper, by which they were supposed to renounce the Christian faith and to profess, in all freedom, that they were Hindus. The next day they all recanted.

The gram panchayat of Lureg also seems zealous in the cause of reconversion. It offered Carolus, the Catholic pracharak, a salary of Rs. 200 per month, plus a bicycle, if he would serve as Hindu pracharak.

(4) About the methods of the Arya Samaj it is not necessary to speak. The Committee should know them.

25. Have the relations between Christians and non-Christians, in your district, deteriorated in any way since 1947? Do you apprehend any breach of the peace because of this?

Answer: Relations between tribal non-Christians and tribal Christians have always been cordial, and, on the whole, still are so, though communal minded agitators have tried hard to sow discord. Relations between Hindus on the one side, and our priests and Christians on the other side, always were and still are normal, though, here, the effects of the unrestrained press campaign against us, and of the slanders of some fanatics may at times be visible.

It is true that a very small knot of communalists is highly excited. On our part, there is no danger of breach of the peace. Is there danger lest the other side indulge in violence? That is not for us to say. We believe it is the duty of Government to compel would be law-breakers to keep the peace.

We wonder why the Committee do not ask for the reasons of such deterioration. These reasons seem to be:

(1) The violent anti-Christian propaganda of the Ram Rajya Parishad at the time of the Janapada elections. We think that, here, Mr. Deshpande deserves blame. He has been rewarded by being made public prosecutor in court cases against Christian priests.

(3) The abusive campaign and the slanders and lies spread by Swami Ramanuj Saraswati.

(4) The violent press campaign against missionaries and Christians, which appears to have the approval of the Madhya Pradesh Government.

(5) The utterances of certain Ministers on tour in these parts. In October 1953 a Madhya Pradesh Minister made a violent attack against missionaries, in a speech at the Loyola High School, Kunkuri in the presence of the Bishop. And quite recently Shri Monloy, went out of his way at a Kunkuri public meeting to say that the Dutch Ambassador had been received by us with more honour than would have been shown to Mr. Nehru. And this was said after the Hitavada had retracted its lie about the alleged visit of this ambassador. And he publicly stated that it was wrong that aboriginals should become converts to Christianity.

(6) The very appointment of your Committee, and this Committee’s strange procedure, its method of calling for public accusations, which are not sifted.

(7) This questionnaire, with its blatant anti-Christian, bias, calling on every fanatic to pour forth his venom against those he dislikes.

26. Have there been cases of social boycott by Christians against non-Christians, or vice versa, in your District?

Answer: Christians are not in the habit of boycotting anyone. And when we are boycotted, we generally take it patiently. But we find it preposterous that the charge of boycotting should be levelled against us, when the real boycotters ought to be well-known to the Committee.

27. Are there any political parties, or other parties of a quasi political and religious character in your district, whose office-bearers are Christians?

Answer: There is only one party here of a quasi religious and political character, and that is the Ram Rajya Parishad. Surely you don’t expect Christians in that party.

But we would like to know what harm there would be in Christians being members, or even office-bearers, in a political party. Are we citizens of this land or are we not? Or do the members of this Committee share the feelings of Swami Ramanuj Saraswati and of the ex-ruler of Surguja who expressed their undiluted horror at the fact that, in far away Travancore-Cochin, a Christian happened to be Chief Minister in the State Congress Government! O horror! A Christian Chief Minister in this Bharat of ours!

28. Are such office-bearers given directions and advice by foreign missionaries?

29. Do you know of instances of foreign missionaries taking part in activities other than religious and social?

Answer: However hard you may try, and whatever insinuations you may throw out, you will not prove a single case of interference in politics.

30. What was the attitude of Government servants towards complaints made by Christians against non-Christians and vice-versa? Do Government servants harass Christians or non-Christians for following their particular religion? State instances, if any.

Answer: Boko Sardar assaulted a Christian and threatened to kill him unless there and then he turned Hindu. The police refused even to write the matter in the diary.

Boko Sardar desecrated a Christian village chapel by urinating in it. The matter was reported to the police-also to your Committee-but no action has been taken. The incident took place at Tangergaon.

Boko Sardar entered a Christian village chapel with a party of Hindus and sang kirtans there. This case, after much delay, has been taken up by the police.

At present several trumped-up cases against priests and prominent Christians are pending before the courts.

The rapidity with which the false charge against the Muskutri hospital was taken up, and the efforts of the daroga to make the people accuse the priest and the Sister, are edifying.

The frantic efforts of the Narayanpur daroga to make the actors of Lodma (see answer to qst. 90), the owner of the Kunkuri buffalo, accuse the priest are equally revealing.

A group of people approached Mr. V. Joshi, S.-D. O. of Jashpur to complain against a patwari. He asked: “Are you Christian?” The answer was “Yes”. Without more ado the case was dismissed.

On another occasion a group of people lodge a complaint before the same person. He orders the Christians to stand on one side and the non-Christians on the other. The Christians were the majority, and without further enquiry their request is rejected. Then the non-Christians, together with one or two Christians, lodge the same complaint, and this time it is entertained.

Mr. Naidu at Jashpurnagar had to enquire into a complaint about bribe taking. His statement begins thus. The remarkable thing about this case is that the three complainants are Christians…… And without any proof this judicial-minded person concludes that the complaint has been instigated by missionaries.

We have not the faintest doubt in our minds that the police are in collusion with the fanatics that bring false accusations against Christians.

We may still mention the ways of Mr. V. Joshi, S. D. O. A Father and two Christians of Sanna are accused. They are made to appear before him twenty-two times, and the case has not yet been started: each time “postponed”. And these poor men have to travel a whole day to reach Jashpurnagar, to stay one day there waiting during long hours, and then to trudge it back for another day. Is this criminal harassment or is it not?

Another priest, similarly accused, had to appear thirty-four times. Is this harassment?

31. What is the percentage of Christians and non-Christians in any political organisation that you know in your district?

Answer: What on earth can this have to do with the terms of reference of this Committee?

We, Christians, are citizens; we have the franchise, and we are entitled to join any political party. Isn’t there a Christian minister in the Delhi Government at this moment? Was the first Finance Minister of free India not a Christian?

(1) In this district the Jharkhand party is not organised, and certainly, we, Catholics, have nothing to do with it so far.

(2) However, loudly certain politicians may rave against Jharkhand party, it is evident that, this is not an illegal party. We insist that we are not members of it; but, if we were members, no one could make that a matter of reproach against us. Did not the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, for reasons of his own, try to make the Scheduled Tribes agitate for a Gondwana State? How does that differ from Jharkhand ?

(3) Our Bishop has consistently forbidden all his priests to busy themselves with politics; and that order has been, and is being, loyally obeyed.

(4) But we, Catholic laymen of Jashpur, we desire to tell you this; and we solemnly declare that, in speaking, thus, we are not prompted by our priests:

Police oppression and harassment of Christians and of non-Christians must ultimately drive us into opposition to Government. There is a limit even to the patience of Adivasis, Christians and non-Christians. People that have to endure what we endure must be tempted to seek relief where it is offered.

And we are utterly tired of this parrot-like repetition of the slander that our priests meddle in politics. If a cat has nine lives, this slander has ninety-nine, and more. It is incomprehensible how people, to whom we would give credit for honesty, will go on mouthing this piece of calumny.

And, now, Swami Ramanuj Saraswati has found even better: we are storing up ammunition in view of a future rising, and he knows where we are hiding our stocks. And he beseeches a supine Government to take action and save the country before it is too late.

This slander is not in the questionnaire: it was invented after the questionnaire had been circulated. Otherwise……

32. Have conversions to Christianity brought about any betterment in the standards of living of the Scheduled Castes and of the Scheduled Tribes?

Answer : The Committee might as well enquire whether irrigation has contributed to the progress of agriculture. If the committee are really in doubt about the facts, let them come here and see; or let them read the books of Sarat Chandra Roy about the Mundas, the Oraons and other tribes.

But the questioner probably did have a purpose in proposing this query. If we reply that Christianity has contributed enormously to our temporal welfare-and that is a fact denied by no one-then we stand condemned as rice-Christians, and the missionaries have offered us baits; if we say that there has been no improvement (and that would be false) then Christianity has failed. And so we are wrong in any case.

33. Have you noticed any improvement in the moral level of converts to Christianity?

Yet, we will reply. The first commandment of our Christian faith is that we love God above all; and the second, like unto the first, that we love the neighbour as ourselves. We are taught that we are all God’s children and, therefore, brothers; that we may not despise any man as unclean or untouchable. Our faith bids us not to steal, nor to lie, nor bear false witness, nor oppress the weak, nor kill, nor harbour foul thoughts, nor do unclean things.

This is our Christian moral code. We are but frail human beings, and it is possible that, at times, we fail to walk according to Our Divine Lord’s precepts. But that is our ideal.

We are not in the habit of comparing ourselves with our non-Christian neighbours; nor do we ask ourselves whether, now, we are better than when we walked in fear of spirits, and had not yet learnt God’s law God alone shall judge us and our neighbours.

But we would be very curious to know what answer the police and certain officials have returned to this question. We expect that the police, with sorrow, testifies that conversion to Christianity has caused grave moral deterioration. For, since we are Christians, we have received some education, and we often refuse to pay bribes, and we dare assert our rights. Surely the police must find that we have grown very bad!

Will a little story in this connection interest the committee? A daroga in tribal territory was fairly friendly with a Catholic priest.

One day the man of the law said: “Well, Father, real friends we can never be. Your presence here means to me a loss of Rs. 700 per month”.

We have more than a mere suspicion that the zeal of the police to get our priests out of this district has something to do with their illegal emoluments. And many a petty “servant of the public” must feel the same grievance against us. Mere Adivasis daring to refuse bribes to them! How bad they have grown of late!

34. Do you know any cases of missionaries destroying or desecrating non-Christian places of worship or burial grounds. Please state specific instances, if any.

Answer: No, most emphatically. If we did such things the zeal of the police would have some scope. But the case of Boko Sardar, urinating in the Catholic village chapel of Tangergaon, has been mentioned already; also his entering into a village chapel to sing kirtan, and thus exasperating the villagers.

Why do the Committee, by way of questioning, suggest that we are guilty of this heinous offence? They might as well ask about all the other crimes listed in the Criminal Code.

35. What were the consequences of such acts in the relations between Christians, and non-Christians? Were such cases reported to the local authorities? What action was taken?

Answer: Before there could be consequences such acts should exist, and they exist only in the imagination of slanderers. Does the Committee really believe that there may have been lack of zeal on the part of zealots and of the police?

But when Boko Sardar desecrated a Christian chapel in a most outrageous fashion, yes, then the police showed remarkable lack of zeal.

36. What has been the attitude of Christian Missions to National reconstruction efforts. Have they welcomed, or co-operated with, the work of organizations like the Harijan Seva Sangh and the Kasturba Gandhi Memorial Trust?

Answer: The Committee appear truly hard up to discover proofs of our lack of loyalty. We live in a very jungly region and these organisations have hardly penetrated to our district. But we, Christians are prepared to cooperate with any scheme that fosters the public welfare.

Perhaps it will be urged that we are not co-operating with the Adivasi Welfare Department. The reason is obvious. This Department, from the very instant it was set up, declared a fierce war against us, trying to kill our schools, specializing in false accusations, and acting, as is well known, as a “Hindu Mission”.

37. Have the Mission contributed, or encouraged their converts to contribute, to national welfare schemes, or funds for relief in national calamities.

Answer: Does the questioner really dare insinuate that Christians are not interested in the national welfare?

May we ask: Who kept the Adivasis and the depressed classes down all these centuries, and who helped them to rise out of their degradation? If the members of the Committee are sincere, they must confess that Christianity has made an incalculable contribution to the welfare of the lowly and of many other classes.

But nowadays, you have let loose on us a host of so-called welfare workers. We shall not condemn these men in a body; but we wish to point out that they draw exceedingly fat salaries, and that they are well paid for trying to uplift us. And not seldom it seems to us that they display more zeal in trying to destroy the good.

Our priests are not professional uplifters, and certainly they do not come to us in a condescending manner; they have served us, and still do serve us and they draw no salary.

We have heard of Ministers telling their Welfare staff that they must be animated with the missionary spirit. This appears to us an unsolicited testimonial to the devotion of our priests and our nuns.

But yet, we are grateful to the Committee for asking this question, though we smart under the insult it contains. For we had cause to think that no contribution from us to thin public welfare was acceptable with the Government.

Early in 1954 our Bishop received from a charitable organisation a considerable consignment of barrels of powdered milk. (And, by the way, Swami Ramanuj. Saraswati “revealed” in The Hitavada that these barrels contained ammunition). The Lord Bishop offered a number of barrels to the Deputy Commissioner of Raigarh, the only condition attached being “distribution among the needy without distinction of caste or creed”. The answer was a frigid refusal.

Truth compels us to add that the present Deputy Commissioner of Raigarh, when offered a similar donation, gratefully accepted.

38. Have Christian Missionaries taken over, or attempted to take over, common lands, such as lands for cattle-grazing or cattle-resting places, for purposes other than those for which they are meant?

Answer: No. And isn’t the police keeping its eyes open? Or is the question asked merely in order to insinuate a charge?

But we know of a case where a convent school had “encroached” on public land. Such encroachments are of daily occurrence in this district, and, in this case, the thing had been done unwittingly. The case came before the magistrate, who imposed a fine, and, though, in such cases, the land is usually granted to the encroaching party, refused the school possession of the little plot. The plea was that it was needed for grazing, when every one knew perfectly that it was all rock and stone and that not a blade of grass grew there.

39. What are the Missionaries doing to identify themselves with the Indian people?

Answer: Whatever be the intention of the questioner, we thank him for this query.

Our priests and our nuns have come to our country for life and they do not contemplate a return to the country where they were born. They live, work and die in our midst and hope to be buried in our soil. They look on themselves, and we look on them, as pars and parcel of the Indian nation. Practically all those that were eligible, have, at the commencement of the Indian Constitution, acquired Indian citizenship. And they are loyal citizens, and we have never heard them refer to any other country as theirs.

The Committee know, or easily could have known, all that, and they ask what these men have done to identify themselves with the Indian people. This is an unwarranted insult to loyal men.

40. Do converts to Christianity tend to form a distinct communal group, indifferent or hostile to Indian traditions and culture, and with affinity to foreign culture?

Answer: The “Suggestio Falsi” is patent, and the insult to us glaring. Converts to Christianity in this district are and remain aboriginals. We have nothing to do with foreign ways and culture. We mean to remain what we have been heretofore, but we certainly want to rise in the social scale; we want to rid ourselves of oppression and oppressors; we want to end our ignorance and poverty; we want to take our place in the Indian nation and to make our contribution to its welfare and progress. We are not estranged and denationalized. But it is a fact that certain officials do make the attempt to deprive us of our right to call ourselves aboriginals. It is not we that tend to form a distinct group, nay, not at all.

Some months ago the Sub-Divisional Officer of Police, Jashpurnagar, visited Saraitoli, when he thought fit grievously to insult some of us. He said: “What for do you ape Europeans? Why do you follow a European religion? The British are gone. Why do you run after them?……”

One of those “simple” Adivasis stood up and answered: “Sir, you are a very young man and your talk foolishly. Who follows bilayti ways? Do we wear coat and pants as you do, and a topi too? And a motor car?” The great man looked profoundly mortified and answered not a word, may not, even by an insult. But, some days later, the speaker, who had humbled him, was saddled with a lawsuit for threat of murder, no, not a threat against the Sub-Divisional Officer, but against some other petty official. Was this a mere coincidence?

41. Do converts to Christianity give up all their ancestral religious and social customs and adopt new ones, or do they continue their old practices, such as worship of gram devatas, and ancient marriage rites, even after conversion to Christianity?

Answer: What has this to do with the matter in hand, and what is the questioner bent on insinuating?

After conversion to Christianity we keep our social customs, as to food, dress, mode of working and living, marriage customs, feasts, sports, entertainment, songs and dances. We do renounce worship of idols and of so-called “bhuts”, and of gram devatas. For, we believe in one true God and Him alone do we adore. And we would deem it a grievous sin, if, knowing the one true God, we went and gave worship to idols, devatas, and bhuts.

42. Do you consider any of the activities of the Christian missionaries to be detrimental to the interests of the nation? If so, which, and why?

Answer: It is our firm conviction that the activities of the Catholic Church in our midst, and throughout this land, have been and are an immense contribution to the public welfare. Many are the great and good men of this country, true Hindus, that have, time and again, borne this testimony to the disinterested labours of our nuns and our priests.

Do you really regard the schools and colleges and hospitals and other institutions, conducted by the Catholic Church in India, from Cape Comorin to the Himalayas, as detrimental to the interests of the nation?

Of course, we propagate the Christian faith. And you would fain make that a crime, and brand it as “detrimental to the interests of the nation”. Such was not the opinion of the wise men that, some years ago, sat in Delhi, and framed the Constitution of free India. They said and solemnly enacted, that every man in India had the right to profess, practise and propagate his religion.

We, Adivasis, are convinced that we are fulfilling a duty imposed on us by gratitude, when we declare that we owe an immense debt to the priests and the nuns that have brought us education, the knowledge of our human n

dignity and the consciousness of our human rights. We thank them for having enabled us to shake off the yoke not only of those that so long had kept us in bondage, but also of the evil spirits, and for having taught us to seek salvation in Jesus Christ.

47. What are the educational qualifications of the Missionaries, and what was their station in life before joining the Mission? What was their income before, and what is it now?

Answer: Our priests are highly educated men, practically all of them having a Ph. D. and a D. D. degree. Very many of them have for years been teaching in High Schools or lecturing in Colleges. In the matter of education they can stand up to any of your Government officers, even the highest.

As to their social standing before they came to us, the only thing we need say that they have dedicated their lives to the service of God and it the neighbour from their youth.

As to their salaries, we may be causing astonishment to the members of the Committee, certainly to the slanderers of our priests and nuns, when we declare what is absolutely true, that our Fathers and religious Sisters draw no salary. Theirs are dedicated lives and their service does not look for reward in this world.

49. Have the Indian Missionaries equal status and authority with the foreign Missionaries?

Answer: In the Catholic Church we are all brothers and the notion of colour bar and caste, as it prevails among Hindus, is utterly foreign and distasteful to us. To us Indian priests and European priests are equally God’s ministers and we respect them equally.

But it does happen that we, aboriginals, and our aboriginal priests also, do receive contumelious treatment from other Indians, who treat us as inferior beings. Such treatment is never meted out to us, nor to our aboriginal priests, by the European Fathers.

50. What is the organisation of the Missions? Who has supreme authority over them?

Answer: Supreme authority is in the hands of the Bishop, who is an Indian citizen. Of course, in matters of religion, he acknowledges the authority of the Pope, who is the head of the Catholic Church throughout the world. There is no question of our depending on a Mission Board or any such thing.

51-54: How are the missions financed (and a great deal more about income and expenditure)?

Answer: Why does the Committee enquire about this matter? Government seems to know, or pretends to know, since a Minister did make a statement about the matter in Parliament, and quoted figures. If he knew the facts, the Committee need not ask us; if he did not know the facts, what right did he have to make a statement?

In this district, people who do not wish us well, go about saying that we received 22 crores. Why not put the figure ten times higher? Once you grant your imagination free rein, why not let it fly to the highest summits?

But, if our fellow Christians abroad are generous enough to help us, we do not see why any one should resent that. As to schools, and hospitals, and other institutions of social welfare, all are welcome to benefit by them, nor is any one solicited to become a Christian if he desires to benefit by them.

56. Are regular reports published of the achievements of the Missions? If so, please furnish copies of such reports since 1947.

57. What types of activities have the Missions undertaken in your district, such as (a) religious propaganda, (b) running of institutions like schools and hospitals, (c) other institutions?

Answer: Certainly, the Catholic Church carries on religious propaganda, though we think that you do not understand that word in the meaning in which we use it. We do not beat the big drum, nor blow the trumpet, nor organize morchas, nor shout slogans against other religions, nor indulge in “force and fraud”, nor threaten “unconverted souls with eternal damnation”. But we do teach such as desire to be taught; we enlighten the honest enquirer; and we labour to assist the poor and the lowly. There is no question of obstreperous proselytism.

The Catholic Church also runs schools and hospitals open to all. But the Madhya Pradesh Government has striven hard to annihilate our schools; it has succeeded to a large extent in driving non-Christian pupils out of our schools.

There are “Mutual Aid Societies”, which are really co-operative societies, run according to Government rules. And much else.

58. Are there Mission Courts in your district? If so what is their constitution and rules of procedure? What punishments do they award and to whom?

Answer: There are no mission courts here. But Christianity does not want to uproot ancient customs, and so in our villages there are panchayats, just as there were during centuries before we became Christians. Thee panchayats are conducted according to our tribal rules, and do not pretend to deaf with grave offences. In them non-Christians sit with Christians, whenever the matter concerns us both.

We are aware that Government officers are apt to feel jealous of our tribal panchayats, and so we walk warily lest we land ourselves into anything illegal.

These panchayats are with us a very ancient institution, but no stretch of the most sanguine imagination, can they be called “mission courts”.

59. Where do the Missions work in your districts? Do they concentrate on areas populated by the Scheduled Castes and Tribes?

60. Please state the location where the Missions are situated. Since when have they been functioning there, and what are the means of communication to such places? Are these means of communication available the whole year round?

But we fail to see what means of communication have to do with the terms of reference of the Committee.

Or must we hold the Committee responsible for an innuendo that these wicked priests and nuns go and hide themselves in lonely spots, where upright Government officials cannot reach, so that they may be at liberty to pursue unhampered their nefarious designs against the safety of India?

Or is there an allusion to the Committee’s trip to Muskutri, when, so we are told, their bones were badly shaken in a jeep travelling over an abominable road? Was that our fault?

61. Are there Government officials posted at such places? Please give their designations. How frequently does a Government officer visit these places in a year?

Alas, notwithstanding our lack of means of communication there are police officers everywhere, and we are only too painfully aware of their presence, as well as of the presence of other petty officials that thrive on bribes.

Higher officers may, or may not, come. Yet, the Committee may rest assured that our priests and nuns are duly watched, their names periodically taken down, (the father’s name not being omitted), and that they have no opportunity to indulge in fatal machinations against the safety of the Indian Republic.

Moreover, for some years now, the Government have at their service the teachers and other officers of the Adivasi Welfare Department, and these try hard to deserve their liberal salaries by displaying exemplary zeal in reporting the supposed misdemeanors of priests, nuns, and Christians.

62. Are there meetings of missionary workers held at periodical intervals? Are the proceedings of such meetings made known to members of the general public?

Answer: We are not aware of any such meetings being held; but we are of opinion that it would be perfectly reasonable and lawful to hold them. And, furthermore, we are of opinion that this question is asked simply for the sake of insinuating that eve pursue unlawful designs.

We do not see what business “the members of the general public” would have with the minutes of such meetings: not because there is anything to hide, or because anything treasonable takes place (as it seems intended to suggest), but because the “members of the general public” are eminently uninterested in matters religious.

We do not think that, if such meetings did take place, our priests would be likely to plot against the security of the State. And Government knows that very well. For some years now it has watched them, tampered with the privacy of their correspondence, spied on them, required periodical police reports about them, and, so far nothing very treasonable or dishonourable seems to have been discovered.

Or if there is question of meetings of subordinate mission workers, then we can say that occasionally these men meet at the parish church, when they take part in spiritual exercises for the upbuilding of their own spiritual life. No minutes of such meetings are kept, and we can assure the Committee that no plotting against the State is indulged in on these occasions.

63. Are particular areas allotted to particular mission? Or do they encroach on one another’s sphere of influence?

Answer: As far as the Catholic Church is concerned, India is mapped out into a number of “dioceses”. At the head of each “diocese” there is a Bishop, and he alone is responsible for religions matters in that area.

64. Hive missionary activities increased or been intensified in your district since 1947. If so, how and to what extent?

Answer: We can only say that in Jashpur, in the time of the raja, we were scowled upon; and in the other States we were not allowed to exist, as the rajas denied us religious liberty. They claimed ownership not only of our bodies, but of our souls as well.

Since the time of merger the Madhya Pradesh Government has shown itself consistently hostile to Christians, and frequently unfair.

65. Have you come across cases of mass conversions? If so, what were the incentives and methods used?

Answer: We have come across one case of mass conversions. It took place at the 1951 Census. Up till the moment of that Census there were in India, and in particular in this district, many millions that professed tribal religions. During the night of the Census nearly all these millions were converted to Hinduism.

As to the incentives: On the part of the converts there were no incentives; they did not even know that they had been converted.

What were the incentives that moved the converters? Not religions zeal, one would think. But the Committee need no information from us on this point.

The methods: No more than a stroke of the pen, or, stall we say, force, undiluted force, political compulsion.

We have mentioned above the sixty converts of Swami Ramanuj and Boko Sardar: sixty is not an enormous number, and, perhaps, the term “mass conversion” does not apply, as there was question only of small groups. We remind the Committee of the methods used: terror, cajolements, threats chiefly of loss of fields, promises of land.

But, of course, here it was not a question of conversion to the Christian religion!

66. What interest have missionaries and Indian Christians shown in the work of the Government of India Boundary Commission?

Answer: Our priests have not shown any interest at all in this Commission, because they stand aloof from politics. As to us, Indian Christians, we had as good a right as any one else to take an interest in the work of that Commission and to put forward our claims. But as a matter of fact in this district, we have not bothered our beads about it.

67. Have the Missions taken part in Indian politics and elections? Have they supported any political party? If so, which, and since when?

Answer: Our priests, as we have told you to satiety, and as is proved to the hilt, do not meddle with Indian politics. That is not their sphere. However, such of them as have the franchise, have cast their vote at-the polls, as was their right and their duty. And no one has a right to ask for whom they have voted.

We, laymen and women, have as good a right as any other citizen of India to busy ourselves with politics. Our priests have exhorted us to fulfil our civic duty, but they have never asked us to adhere to one party rather than to another. The only direction we received from them was not to join parties that pursue subversive or Godless ends. And that in our view, is not politics, but a matter of moral guidance.

68. Do missionaries undertake such works as recruitment of labour for the Assam Tea Gardens? Do they receive any commission for this? Do they undertake remittances of salaries of labourers to their dependants? If so, on what basis do they do this?

Answer: No labour for the Assam Tea Gardens is recruited by our priests. But, suppose such recruitment did take place, it would be quite reasonable that our priests should help those that are compelled to migrate, to find gardens where there are well treated.

But, up to a very recent date, the Mission, in virtue of an agreement with the Government of India, recruited labour for the Andaman Islands. The Government did pay a small commission for every labourer recruited; we believe that it amounted to one-third of the commission charged by recruiting agencies. This commission barely covered cost of recruiting and forwarding to harbour.

The Fathers also undertook to remit salaries of labourers to their families at home. The money was sent from the Andamans to a Ranchi Co-operative Bank, and thence to the several parishes. No charge was made for the trouble-at time considerable-of getting the cash to this remote districts, and the dependants received the whole amount credited to them at the source

From many tea gardens and other places people do send Money Orders to their folk at home c/o the Father-in-Charge. The reason is simple. It is widely believed (with what truth, the Committee may judge) that focal postmasters have a habit of demanding a gratification for every Money Order paid out. It is also believed that postmaster refuse to make payment, on the pretence that no money is available, until the gratification is forthcoming. Therefore, the poor people prefer to send their remittances c/o the Father-in-Charge, from whom the postmaster dare not require a bribe. In this manner, the dependants receive the whole sum sent to them, and they have not to trudge to the P.O. over and over again, nor to wait there for long weary hours.

The Committed will easily understand why certain people object to the priest’s undertaking to act as intermediary in this matter.

We beg to point out that some of these questions about hospitals are offensive in an extreme degree and are based on false accusations and cruel slanders.

Answer: There is one small hospital at Muskutri, and several small dispensaries.

70. Is admission open to all, or is there any criterion of income, religion. etc., for admission?

Answer: Admission is open to all, without any criterion of income, religion, etc., for admission.

71. Is treatment in hospital used as a means of conversion? Do you know of cases of non-Christian patients being converted to Christianity as the result of treatment in hospitals? If so, cite names and manner of inducement offered.

Answer: Treatment in hospital is not used as a means of conversion, nor do we know of any case where a person was converted in