DC Edit | Saffron ‘sharks’ eye Church land?
That it comes close on the heels of the RSS-affiliated Union government getting Parliament to enact a law which sought to end the Muslim community’s control over waqf properties could trigger speculation that the larger parivar plan is to pit the minority communities as aggressors as part of its divide-and-rule strategy;
The RSS turning its attention to the wealth owned by the Catholic church in India does not appear to square not only with the measurements in hectares it propounds but also with the constitutional rights religious denominations enjoy in this country and, with the saffron camp’s aggressive outreach efforts with the Christians, who make up the second largest minority community in the country. That it comes close on the heels of the RSS-affiliated Union government getting Parliament to enact a law which sought to end the Muslim community’s control over waqf properties could trigger speculation that the larger parivar plan is to pit the minority communities as aggressors as part of its divide-and-rule strategy.
As per an article in RSS mouthpiece Organiser, since withdrawn, the Catholic church owns about seven crore hectares of land which works out to be about 21 per cent of the country’s total land area of 32.87 crore hectares. It also lists the number of institutions including those in the medical and educational fields which, too, appear to be at variance with fact. For example, it says the church runs five engineering colleges, a gross underestimation. The imputation in the article is that the church, which acquired the assets through questionable means, especially during the British raj, uses it for conversion.
The RSS and the governments that it controls must use legal means to end the illegal occupation of properties, if any, and its misuse for illegal purposes including for religious conversion, if so. Sending out dogwhistles to the Hindutva brigade out there on the streets to target the assets of any community is not the best way to accomplish this.
The BJP leadership, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been making all-out efforts to woo the Christian community with an eye on making a dent in Kerala politics where it still lingers on the margins. The party has made some gains in the last three Lok Sabha elections and a push from the Christian community which makes up 18 per cent of the state’s population could yield substantial electoral dividends. But the Sangh Parivar must make its position clear, instead of running with the hare and hunting with the hound. Mere withdrawal of the article cannot conceal the inherent polemic in the saffron camp’s approach to the minority communities.