Fr. Cedric Prakash SJ –
When the Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a visit to the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Delhi on 9 April 2023, Easter Sunday, it definitely raised several eyebrows and more! Not that it was unique in any way. Prime Ministers and Presidents of India have visited Churches and participated in Christian religious events before; besides, it is within their legitimate right to visit and even pray not only in a Church, but also in a mosque, in a gurudwara or in fire- temple! We have that classic image of Pope Francis praying in the Blue Dome Mosque in Istanbul. There is the fact that once the Prime Minister expresses his desire to visit a Church, the Church authorities would certainly do everything within their means, with the ceremony and protocol, to accord a welcome befitting of the office of the Prime Minister,
The reality in India however, is different today. Given the constant attacks on the miniscule Christian population today, no one is willing to accept that the visit of the Prime to the Cathedral was but one of sheer ‘political opportunism’. The attacks on Christians in India today (and also on other minorities, particularly the Muslims) take place with frightening regularity. These are not aberrations or isolated instances, as even some of the Christian prelates have the spinelessness to make them out to be. Christians in several BJP-ruled states are hounded and harassed; prayer services are disrupted; places of prayer and worship are demolished; false cases are foisted on pastors and Christian worshippers.
Then we have the draconian and unconstitutional anti -conversion laws that have been promulgated in several states that denies one the Fundamental right to legitimately preach, practise and propagate one’s religion. The Constitutional provisions of rights to minorities are downscaled and are even being scrapped altogether. There is substantial documentation to evidence all of this.
It is important to note that those who indulge in the attacks against Christians, do so, because they know that nothing will happen to them!
Many Christians are certainly not ready to accept second-class citizenship in a country, which belongs to them and are fighting for their Constitutional rights. There was a massive protest in Delhi against the persecution of Christians in mid- February and one in Bombay as recently as 12 April!
Visiting a Church, lighting a candle before the statue of the Risen Lord, listening to an English hymn are all good, if done in the right spirit and attitude. What did he say when he visited the Cathedral? Did he assure the bishops and the others present, that he would abide by the Constitution and would protect their Constitutional rights and freedoms at whatever the cost? There is absolutely no record in the print or electronic media of what the Prime Minister said. The fact is that the elections in Karnataka and Kerala are due shortly and that General elections will take place in 2024 – is not lost on concerned citizens of the country and particularly on discerning political analysts.
It is also interesting to see what the Bishops who welcomed the Prime Minister had to say to him? Were there only pleasantries and small talk (and some ‘prayers’) exchanged? Could not the Bishops have made it an occasion to highlight and in writing, the abysmal depths the country has fallen to in every sphere – and particularly the lot of the poor and the marginalised, the small farmers and the migrant workers, the excluded and the exploited? Should they have not made a strong statement on the plight of the Christians (and the Muslims) in India? Here was certainly a golden opportunity which was badly missed; a real opportunity, which cannot be compared with the political opportunism of the Prime Minister!
Interestingly it is good to be reminded that Archbishop Anil Couto of Delhi who was the main prelate to welcome the Prime Minister to the Cathedral, wrote a letter to his diocese on 8 May 2018. At that time the country was burning with several issues as it is today. The modified media instead of taking on the Government on its lack of governance took on the Archbishop and made his innocuous letter prime time news. In his letter. Archbishop Couto requested special prayers until the General Elections of 2019. The letter was a call for prayer beginning on “May 13, 2018 which marks the Anniversary of the Apparition of the Blessed Mother at Fatima, consecrating ourselves and our nation to the Immaculate Heart”. At that time most thinking citizens had the following conclusions to make:
As an Indian citizen, the Archbishop has every right to voice his opinions/views
As the Archbishop of Delhi, it is his duty to be a Pastor and instruct the Catholics under his care both on spiritual and temporal matters. It is an age-old practice for Bishops all over the world to send out Circular or Pastoral Letters before any major event (including elections) which could affect their people in any way!
The letter clearly does NOT take sides; does not name any political party; does not tell people whom to vote for.
The letter is addressed to a particular group of people (that is the Catholics of Delhi) it is directional in nature; a request and certainly not mandatory
The letter is a call to prayer! (anything wrong with that?)
Archbishop Anil begins his letter with the words “We are witnessing a turbulent political atmosphere which poses a threat to the democratic principles enshrined in our Constitution and the secular fabric of our nation.” There could not be perhaps a better opening statement, so down-to-earth, so contextual- which sets the tone of why one needs to pray and fast.
It would be appropriate at this juncture that Archbishop Anil and in fact all the Bishops of India should write another relevant pastoral letter (in the lines of Pope Francis) and in the context of the realities which today have gripped the nation.
St Oscar Romero was a bishop of and for his suffering people. He was brutally gunned down by the brutal regime of his country El Salvador on 24 March 1980. The day before he was killed in his Sunday homily, he called out to his government saying, “In the name of God, and in the name of his suffering people; those who have suffered so much and whose laments cry out to heaven with greater intensity each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you in the name of God: stop the repression immediately! “The Christian hierarchy and clerics have much to learn from Romero; in India today, we desperately need to emulate his prophetic courage based on the person and message of Jesus.
The American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti in his poem ‘Pity the Nation’ puts it incisively
“Pity the nation whose people are sheep
And whose shepherds mislead them
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars
Whose sages are silenced
And whose bigots haunt the airwaves
Pity the nation that raises not its voice
Except to praise conquerors
And acclaim the bully as hero
And aims to rule the world
By force and by torture
Pity the nation that knows
No other language but its own
And no other culture but its own
Pity the nation whose breath is money
And sleeps the sleep of the too well fed
Pity the nation oh pity the people
who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away
My country, tears of thee
Sweet land of liberty!”
Picture courtesy: PIB
(Fr Cedric Prakash SJ is a Human Rights, Reconciliation and Peace activist/ writer. Contact: [email protected])
Fr Cedric Prakash should immediately be made a prelate to take up the issue of the persecution of Christians (including Muslims) with the appropriate government authorities.
Regarding persecution of Muslims, can Fr Cedric cite a single case where Muslim leaders have spoken out against atrocities on Christians in India? What about annihilation of Christians in the Syria, Iraq and other parts of the Middle East by fanatic Muslim groups like ISIS, etc?
One more point. As future prelate, Fr Cedric should take care to give authentic statistics on the persecution of Christians. During the hearing of the case on 13th April 2023 in the Supreme Court of India, Tushar Mehta – solicitor general of India proved to the Court citing actual FIRs that the persecution charges proferred by Archbishop Peter Machado were not backed up with facts, FIRs, etc. He even went on the extent of lambasting the Archbishop as deliberately exaggerating figures to “keep the pot boiling.”
Fr Cedric is totally silent on increasing financial corruption, sexual abuse and spate of criminal cases against church prelates and cardinals. He should use his “Prophetic” voice on these issues (clean the Augean stable) instead of single-point lambasting the union government to the detriment of the Christian community.