Home Guards deny scientologists’ tall claims of crisis aid.
“Did scientologists train our Home Guards?” Jeevan Virkar sounds puzzled as he repeats our question. The former Commandant General Home Guards and Director Civil Defence asks for a few minutes to check his facts. He calls back promptly. “Yes, a group of Scientology volunteers did train a few of our Home Guards and Civil Defence trainers in 2009. The programmes focused on improving interpersonal communication and leadership qualities.” The scientologists, however, have a more sweeping story.
Going by online reports on the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers India Goodwill Tour, these volunteers did more than just work on the participants’ communication skills. In reports that were written only a little after 26/11, the volunteers are said to have trained the Home Guards and Civil Defence trainers on disaster management so thoroughly, that they are now better equipped to serve the people of Maharashtra. This, though, leaves Virkar even more puzzled. “The main focus of the scientologists was to develop more responsive and effective human beings and leaders. They may call the course by whatever name, but it had nothing to do with disaster management.”
Strangely, scientology, which is accepted as a religion (and dismissed as a cult by non-believers) abroad, hardly has a presence in Mumbai.
But the aforementioned reports suggest otherwise. A quick internet search on scientologists’ work in Mumbai during the 26/11 attacks can leave anyone impressed. The Scientology Volunteer Ministers India Goodwill Tour team is believed to have worked closely with the nurses and victims at JJ Hospital during those crucial days. On hearing about their work, these reports suggest, did the then Commandant General of Maharashtra Civil Defence ask the team to come on board. Except, Virkar strongly refutes the latter point. “It is entirely incorrect that we approached them to train our staff. We had not even heard of them.” Moreover, in an interview with www.volunteerministers.org, tour leader Marion Whitta claimed that the Civil Defence workers were taught the “Scientology Disaster Response Specialist Course”.
When contacted by DNA, Whitta attributes the discrepancies on the internet to an error in reporting. She clarifies that it was she who had, in fact, walked into the Maharashtra Civil Defence building with a proposal in hand. She also explains that the Scientology Disaster Response Specialist Course consists of six modules, and communication skills formed just one of the six modules. “In my experience of travelling around India and training civil defence workers and the paramilitary force, training programmes on communications skills have proved to be very effective. Communication is important to managing a disaster,” justifies Whitta.
The actual, full Scientology Disaster Response Specialist Course is a three-and-a-half week long, eight hours a day training programme, which Whitta describes as “pretty intense”. “Due to the lack of time, the programme at the Maharashtra Civil Defence was for five days, I think,” she recalls. She, however, does admit that the course ought to have been mentioned as ‘Scientology Disaster Response Specialist Course – Communication Module’ in the interview, while also emphasising that she is not aware of how facts were reported at that time. “Well, you could make a controversy out of this but the important fact is: did the training work?” If the participants’ testimonials on websites are anything to go by, it may have, but the errors on www.volunteerministers.org – a website run by the volunteers themselves – continue to remain.
Apart from Chandigarh, Patiala and Kolkata, it is New Delhi’s Scientology centre that confirms the faith’s presence in the country. Public executive secretary Yatin Bajaj explained that volunteers do not report to the centre. He describes the centre as more of a support system, one that provides aids like books to volunteers who travel all over India. “The volunteers train people who, in turn, train helpers and the local people during large scale disasters. They train people as helping hands.”
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