The Association of Catholic Historians of India (ACHI) has chosen to deliberate on the contribution of missionaries for nation building for its forthcoming annual conference in Bangalore, next June.
“The right-wing Hindu organizations such as RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) and the pro-Hindu BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) with their hidden and malicious agenda seek to destroy the contribution of Christian missionaries in India. That is exactly the problem we are facing for longer. Many a time the work of Christian missionaries is interpreted negatively. We need to put them in the right perspective,” Divine Word Father Rayappan Jesuraj, a member of the executive council of ACHI, told Matters India.
Fr Jesuraj, professor of church history at Papal Seminary-Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, Pune, is an author as well. He has decades of teaching church history in many major seminaries and institutes in India. He was also dean and principals of a few theology seminaries in the country.
“We chose the theme on the contribution of missionaries for nation building because there is a general feeling that either the missionaries did little for Indian culture and language or destroyed it entirely, which is not the fact,” he added.
The chief minister of India’s Jharkhand state, Raghubar Das, who heads the state government led by the pro-Hindu BJP, recently accused Christian missionaries of working to keep the tribal stronghold poor. Christian leaders and historians deny the charge saying he was trying to cover up his government’s lapses ahead of state elections.
