Catholic bishops denounce RSS chief’s alleged claims about former president Mukherjee

The Catholic Bishops Convention of India (CBCI) has issued a forceful condemnation of latest statements made by way of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Mohan Bhagwat, who used an alleged dialog with the overdue President Pranab Mukherjee to hyperlink Christianity with anti-national actions.

Talking in Hindi at an match in Indore on January 13, 2025, the place he offered the ‘Nationwide Devi Ahilya Award’ to Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) chief Champat Rai, Bhagwat claimed that throughout his first assembly with then-President Mukherjee, they’d mentioned the RSS’s ‘ghar wapsi’ programme. As translated by way of The Indian Categorical, Bhagwat alleged that Mukherjee had praised the RSS’s paintings, claiming that with out it, “30% of tribals” would were affected. In a telling second that exposed his rhetorical technique, Bhagwat narrated: “I stated, — would have turn out to be Christian? He stated no longer Christian, however anti-national. That is what he stated.” Thru this narrative building, Bhagwat looked as if it would intentionally identify an equivalence between Christianity and anti-national actions, whilst the use of Mukherjee’s alleged phrases to legitimise this perspective.

Following those claims, Bhagwat elaborated on his perspectives referring to conversion: “If conversion comes thru an inner calling, it’s nice. We consider all types of prayers are appropriate. But when conversion is completed thru allurement or thru drive then its actual intention isn’t non secular enlightenment however expanding affect thru uprooting.”

The CBCI, in its commentary launched on January 16, wondered each the timing and veracity of those claims, noting that they emerged best after Mukherjee’s loss of life in 2020. “We don’t consider the commentary to be true and spoken by way of the previous president, as a result of we grasp him in nice esteem for his contribution to the country and the consideration for pluralistic secular ethos of our motherland,” the CBCI commentary asserted.

The bishops’ convention in particular criticised what it termed “right-wing compliant journalism and submissive media, degrading the unbiased and fearless media, the acclaimed fourth pillar of Indian colourful democracy.” The commentary identified that it used to be “unlucky that the 3 times banned group, connected with the type of violent Indian historical past as has noticed over the last a number of many years, is authorized with impunity to name the non-violent, peace loving and repair orientated Christian group as anti-nationals.”

Rev. Vijayesh Lal, Basic Secretary of the Evangelical Fellowship of India, chatting with Christian Nowadays, uncovered what he noticed because the underlying motivation: “Mr. Bhagwat’s statements replicate vintage RSS positioning. The tribal communities are consistent reminders to the RSS that it’s the tribals who’re India’s unique population, a undeniable fact that contradicts the Sangh’s personal narrative. This is the reason the RSS is so decided to impose Hindutva ideology upon them.”

The timing of Bhagwat’s claims seems in particular important for the reason that Mukherjee’s personal public statements, together with the ones made at an RSS match in Nagpur in 2018, had emphasised that nationalism may just no longer be outlined by way of any unmarried faith. All the way through that match, Mukherjee had in particular quoted Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi, and Rabindranath Tagore to fret the significance of secularism and inclusion.

The CBCI highlighted the irony in Bhagwat’s narrative: “Is it no longer the violent Ghar Wapsi program of VHP and different an identical organizations, curbing the workout of freedom of sense of right and wrong of economically disadvantaged tribals, the true anti-national process?”

In protecting the Christian group, the CBCI emphasised the Christian contribution to nation-building, which they famous used to be “widely recognized, favored and acclaimed in quite a lot of fields akin to freedom fight, schooling, hospital treatment, social upliftment.”

The talk emerges at a an important political second, as opposition events spotlight tribal rights and caste census as key problems forward of upcoming elections. The RSS and its affiliated organisations have lengthy campaigned towards conversion of tribals to Christianity, with a number of outfits lately pushing for the elimination of reservation advantages for transformed tribals.

When approached by way of The Indian Categorical about those debatable claims referring to her father, Mukherjee’s daughter Sharmishtha Mukherjee declined to remark.

The CBCI has referred to as upon media shops, political leaders, and parliamentarians to acknowledge and reply to what they describe as a deadly try to equate spiritual minorities with anti-national components. Their commentary warned that “large exposure to such unverifiable and motivated statements are susceptible to divide communities by way of inciting violence and selling hatred.”

“The actual factor is the precise to workout freedom of sense of right and wrong, a basic appropriate underneath Artwork. 25, by way of the tribals and different inclined who too are entitled to are living a lifestyles with human dignity as enshrined within the Charter of India,” the CBCI commentary concluded, urging center of attention on financial empowerment and academic enlightenment slightly than “falling into the scheming and propaganda of tough and oppressive sections.”