-> T.S.VENKATESAN
The two-day VHP state executive meeting has demanded apologies from Pope for the forced conversionsin Bharat as well in other countries. It also asked indie to insist the Rome not to confer sainthood to Neelakanta Pillai aksDevasahayam Pillai who indulged converting people in Kanyakumari district.
A release from VHP, after the meeting in Ariyalur near Trichy, said“Christians have persecuted, conducted genocides and mass executions for 350 years. So when the Pope comes visiting Bharat, he should apologize for all this and showing respect for all religions should declare to stop horizontal religions conversions”.
lt is pertinent to remember on a three-day visit to India, in November , 1999 Pope John Paul II said Roman Catholic bishops in Asia to respect other religions, but not to lose sight of their ”call to conversion” in the next millennium.
He said ‘‘Respect does not eliminate the need for the explicit proclamation of the Gospel in its fullest. Interfaith understanding should lead them to recognize the Roman Catholic Church’s right to evangelize. Its inviolability is such that individuals must be recognized as having the right even to change their religion, if their conscience so demands. We should reap the benefits by making harvest of mass conversions”.
The pope wanted church leaders to follow their pastoral style to suit the culture and customs of their native lands.
During the last papal visit in 1999, of Pope John Paul II, the VHP had demanded that the Pope “proclaim the validity of Gods other than the Christian Lord of the Bible”.
Vishwa Hindu Parishad has demanded that Pope should apologize for ‘crimes’ committed by Christians. Quoting Pope’s words that they converted people in American continent in the first millennium, followed by African continent in the next 1000 years and in the third millennium, we will be reaping the harvest in Asia. VHP said it is continuation of conspiracy to conversion and the sainthood to Devasahayagam Pillai.
In 1752 he converted to Christianity. Lies were spread that he was killed for converting to Christianity. The appeal for conferring him sainthood is only to increase higher caste Hindus in Christian religion. “We urge the Centre to convince the visiting Pope not to confer him sainthood. It also pointed out that of 10,000 who were conferred sainthood by Rome, Pope Pal VI said nearly 2000 were not eligible for the coveted honour saying there were records to prove they had lied.
They accepted this blunder of proselytizing of Hindus and others. In the similar they want give sainthood and later regret for same. This conspiracy has to be stopped. It was not a first time, in 2012 there were failed attempts to confer him sainthood. Now DMK at the helm, the demand has been growing high. Abrahamic religions have openly said DMK came to power due to their alms. So under pressure from these elements, DMK is also backing their demand.
The Centre should take appropriate steps to thwart this conspiracy and ask Pope to offer unconditional apologies for converting people in a mass scale. VHP also passed a resolution condemning the demolition of Hindu religious places for worship on flimsy grounds like built on water bodies, blocking waterways etc.
During the seven months DMK rule, nearly 150 temples of various sizes have been razed to grounds without following due legal process. At the same time, churches and mosques that were proved encroachments by courts and revenue authorities are untouched.
It also passed resolution urging the DMK government not to change Tamil New Year from Chithirai to Thai and premature release of Coimbatore serial bomb blast Muslim prisoners. It also opposed the move to melt temple gold jewelleries into gold bars.