Agnelo Gracias has said the Centre's advisory to Karnataka in the light of the recent attacks on Christians is an indication that the government is serious about protecting the minorities.
Agnelo Gracias, the auxiliary Bishop of Bombay has said the Centre's advisory to Karnataka in the light of the recent attacks on Christians is an indication that the government is serious about protecting the minorities.
In an interview to the DNA, he was, however, keeping his fingers crossed about the imposition of Article 355 which he hoped would never be needed. Article 355 is a controversial statute and rarely invoked. It enshrines on the Centre a "duty to protect every state against external aggression and internal disturbance and to ensure that the government of every state is carried on in accordance with the provisions of this Constitution".
Bishop Gracias was speaking on a variety of issues concerning communal harmony and, the role of the Bajrang Dal. He said the Dal has been emboldened to carry out attacks thanks to the backing of the BJP.
The Dal, he said, has been fomenting problems but stopped short of saying that banning would help it. "If nothing else works, that may be an option. What is clear is that the government must crack the whip."
On Friday, a rally to protest the atrocities against Christians in Mangalore was carried out in Mumbai. It was another form of protest following the one-day closure by all Catholic schools in the city two weeks ago.
Asked if they had specifically refuted the accusations of forced conversions made against it, Gracias cited a recent press conference where John Dayal, an activist and human rights campaigner had publicly asked the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) to produce cases of forced conversion.
"And if a case can be produced, then the laws that are there to deal with this can be applied. In fact, the chief minister of Karnataka has himself said that there are enough laws to deal with this," Gracis added.
In Gracias's opinion, the issue of conversion is a bogey. "The real reasons, to my mind are, socio-economic. The economy depends on the exploitation of tribals and Dalits and "let us not forget that the RSS is made up of upper castes and if the economic apple cart is overturned, it will not benefit them. They want to retain the status quo" With education, the church is attempting to break the stranglehold, he said.
"Conversion is a human right, not a religious right," he added saying that religion is a matter between the person and God. Gracias said that while he remained concerned about Catholics who had left the church to join new Christian groups, they had the freedom to join these groups. "The mainline churches do not like them because they are sometimes unaccountable but they have the freedom to talk about their faith."
He said the church is keen to reach out to the evangelical groups and plans to invite Scott Hahn, a former Presbyterian turned Catholic and invite these leaders to have a dialogue, and look for areas in which there are disagreements etc. "We'd be happy to dialogue and also see how if they in someway overall harm the Christian cause by aggressive proselytisation.
And finally, Gracias said that while the church does, indeed abjure violence, he felt that there was a remote possibility of a fringe element in the community retaliating. The India church is being tested, he said, and that it is times like this that bring out the best in people, in organisations.
d_brian@dnaindia.net
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