Last year the scholars from University of Montreal and Ottawa (Canada) did a research work on the life of Mother Teresa and presented a report, which debunked the myth so far held regarding her personality. The report was flashed in mass media. According to the report the ways of Mother Teresa of helping the destitute and distressed were dubious; she was glorified through media campaign. Seeing the churches getting empty, Vatican intended to glorify her, so that the people could be attracted back to the religion. It also says that it was the miracle of medicine, and not that of Mother Teresa, that cured the diseases. This report and the facts given below are needed to be considered to understand the tenor of what RSS Sarsangha-chalak Mohan Bhagwat said regarding Mother Teresa.
With the advent of British rule in India, Missionaries entered India through education and spread all over the places through so-called service among poor and backwards in particular. They hobnobbed with the then British govt. and had entire tribal belt of north-east India to be declared prohibited for everybody other than they themselves, only so that the evangelisation of local Hindu vanvasis could freely be carried out with no hint to anybody. It is because of this we see the region overwhelmingly populated with Christians today.
In rest of India they did the same by spreading the network of schools and colleges. These institutions emerged as a hub of anti-Hindu preaching in favor of Christianity. So optimistic Macaulay, founder of English education in India, could not resist himself from saying that —“With the little western education Bengal will no longer have idol-worshippers.” The foundation of English education was laid around 1813 AD with the colleges like Bishop College and Dough College of Calcutta, and Wilson College and S.P.G. college of Trichinapalli.
Initiated with the arrival of British the mission has now assumed too wide a dimension. Taking conversion for a war, they started the ‘Project Joshua’ in 2002, with the purpose of carving out such regions inside the country where the writ of Church prevails. A deep study about which caste resides in which part of the country; what its weaknesses are; and, most of all, how the weaknesses could be exploited in the interest of Christianity has been a vital part of this Project. From whose inspiration this is initiated is none other than Jim Towey, who was once
the legal advisor of mother
Teresa. Church-planting movement’, ‘Mission India’ and many such other organisations are there which are doing the same work under pseudo names; people know not of them that’s a different matter.
Operated from America, ‘Mission India’ collects the donations and sends it for ‘holy’ mission in India. But, how holy is the mission could be understood just by looking into what is written in its booklet-“More than one billion people in India are in misery….they need help…and they are getting attracted in great numbers towards Christ. This nation of sub-nationalities provides an opportunity to bring good news to these millions of people who have remained inaccessible so far.”
Unethical acts such as these of missionaries could not escape from the eyes of Gandhiji. And, despite being a supporter of secularism freedom of preaching, he had to say “The way the Christian missionaries are indulged in their activities of religious conversion these days, they will be given no chance of doing so in free India. They are inflicting harm to entire India. This is a tragedy for the mankind to have the thing like missionary preaching. So long as you missionary people consider non-Christians and Indians as the people lost in the darkness of ignorance, there will be no place for you in free India.” (Mahatma Gandhi-Christian Missions, There Place in India, page 151 and 220]. Er. Rajesh Pathak (The writer is a senior columnist)
