“I am 78 and thought it is time to speak out. The ordinary people like me are happy and content. We feel no persecution or discrimination and are not on the hit list. Even if we are, truth cannot be hidden. In fact it was the Church which had crucified TRUTH and continues to do so.” – Dr Mrs Hilda Raja

I read Mr Julio Ribeiro’s ‘I feel I am on a hit list’ (Indian Express dated 16th March). I did not react immediately because I wanted to let it sink and see if there was any foundation in what he stated. To me who am 78, the whole accusation of his seems to have no foundation. As of Julio Ribeiro, my ancestry also can be traced to Hinduism. While he agrees on this, the question arises why we are Christians today. How did it happen? What kind of inducement-allurement and what strategy of proselytization were used in those days for my ancestors to become Christians? Unlike Julio Ribeiro, I do not feel threatened. Neither do I fear that I am on a hit list. I feel very much an Indian no matter who says what. The point to note is that the Catholic Church to which Julio Ribeiro and I belong has a parampara of a persecution mania. This is because we have inherited and are born through persecution. Not by the Hindus but by the Dutch, the Portuguese, the French and the English. This is precisely why though Julio Ribeiro acquiescence that his DNA if tested, it will not differ markedly from Mohan Bhagwat’s. The same can be said of our Hindu ancestors. Then what happened down the line.

We must agree that there was persecution, forced conversion by the conquerors. It was a question of torture and death to which the Hindu ancestors were subjected to. This is not fairy tales but recorded history when thousands of temples were destroyed, houses were ransacked and people were brutalized. Those who indulged in these human rights violations were treated as Saints by the Vatican and raised to Sainthood. But now we raise a hue and cry against ‘Ghar Vapsi’. What was good for one is not good for another. It is not though these were in the hoary past. Even today most of the NGOs do indulge in this proselytization. I wish the government of India ban all foreign funds. If China could develop without such NGOs and the foreign funds why should India not?

I must bring the Vatican’s mind set in this context because it is relevant. When it comes to conversion it will go the extra mile. Look at what it indulged in during the regime of Pius XII. He did not hesitate to join hands with Hitler who attacked Yugoslavia. Hitler partitioned the country into the Catholic Croatia and the Orthodox Serbia. Then followed a massive ethnic cleansing. The aryanisation process which separated the Jews, Serbs as undesirables. These were deported to concentrated camps. Children were not spared. The ethnic cleansing was done by the open support of the clergy—priests and nuns supervised and Vatican followed the ‘omerta‘ and looked the other way. Special death camps were set up for children. Several commandants and officers at these death camps were Catholic priests. Franciscan monks supervised the mass execution. This ethnic cleansing thus had the blessings of Vatican. There were monetary gains for the Vatican from the Holocaust in Croatia. In the certificate of conversion which was sold for a few hundred of dinars the Vatican netted millions. Vatican was well-informed and yet the Pope maintained silence. In fact not a single member of the clergy was held accountable—though the commandants of the death camps were priests. When after the war, Archbishop Stepinak was arrested for war crimes by the Yugoslav government, Puis XII excommunicated everyone who had taken part in the trial. Later the Archbishop was presented as the champion of religious freedom! It is interesting that in 1998 Pope John II traveled to the Republic of Croatia to announce the beatification of Archbishop Stepinak.

It must be noted that the Vatican abetted and colluded with Mussolini and Hitler in all their brutality. It stood to gain both in terms of power and money. Yet we often hear the word ‘fascist’ being thrown against the BJP and the saffron brigade. This is part of the Christian parampara of the Catholic Church to which Julio Ribeiro and I belong to. Yet we are scandalized by the ‘Ghar Vapsi’. What about the Inquisitions held in India in Goa. With so much of baggage how can we point a finger to others, to the saffron groups and then pretend that we are being victimized and discriminated? All rapes are abominable and need to be condemned in the strongest terms. But why only the rape of the nun, be it in Orissa and now in W. Bengal, be internationalized? Why and how can the Vatican interfere and want to send a delegation?

In a population of nearly one and a quarter billion human rights violations and inhuman acts are bound to happen. These need to be severely put down not politicized. It is the NGOs which create a kind of phobia. Foreign funds flow and towards this they organize dharnas and rallies. Any violation and discrimination is being attributed to the Modi’s government. But then these things had not suddenly surfaced. There is a long gestation period of discrimination, of injecting a fear psychosis. The politicians have communalized the communities.

India is known for its secularism—and it is not because the Constitution made it secular. Even before the Constitution the Hindus welcomed all religions. Butchery and compulsion and forced conversion were introduced and followed by the Dutch, Portuguese, the French and the English. Earlier the basic tenet followed by the inhabitants of this great country was Sanatana Dharma. Even today that is the guide and the dictum.

I am 78 and thought it is time to speak out. The ordinary people like me are happy and content. We feel no persecution or discrimination and are not on the hit list. Even if we are, truth cannot be hidden. In fact it was the Church which had crucified TRUTH and continues to do so. Perhaps there may be aberrations to this. It must not be forgotten that Julio Ribeiro was hounded by a minority community for the alleged human rights violations in Punjab. It was not the Hindus who were behind it. So may be JR has some deep-seated fear within him. But then to generalize this personal fear into the whole fabric of the Indian populace is too far-fetched.

I want to appeal to the government of Modi to ban the foreign funds flow into this country. We should be able to manage with what we have. Why take a begging bowl to other countries and disrupt the peace within. If other countries can manage so can we. I would like to mention about the good works done and which are being done by nuns. But then they have enormous assets. When the foreign invaders left this country they turned over all their land and houses to the Churches. As if these are their grandfathers’ possessions! By all legal rights these should have been turned over to the government of India. So the Churches had at their disposal land and finances to start with. There is no accountability. Look at the minority education institutions which run on their own rules and regulations. Why did the Constitution founders submit to such a request and enshrine it in the Constitution? Is that not discrimination? I have studied from LKG to PG in minority institutions. Later I was a faculty in one of the elite colleges in Chennai. I know how they function. The least said about them the better. Yes, good work they do there is no denying, but it has a price. Money flows into Vatican. There is wealth beyond measure in these Church-allied institutions and in churches. So when mammon triumphs where is TRUTH. The same lenses must be used to scrutinize Mother Teresa’s work in India. – Dr Mrs Hilda Raja, 21 March 2015

» Dr Mrs Hilda Raja was a Professor of Social Sciences at Stella Maris College in Chennai. After retirement she has been a consultant on various government and international development projects. She now stays with her son in Vadodara, Gujarat.

Bharata Bharati