Proposed NCCI-RSS parleys come under fire

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, AUG. 29. The proposed dialogue between the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) at Nagpur on September 12 has come under fire.

Bishop Thomas Mar Athanasius, president, Ecumenical Study and Dialogue Centre, and Prof. Ninan Koshy, president, Dr. Paulose Mar Paulose Memorial Trust, have flayed the move for a dialogue between the NCCI and the RSS and reminded the leadership of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI) and the NCCI that by entering into a dialogue with the RSS they are only weakening their credibility to speak on behalf of the Christian community.

In a statement here today, they cautioned the CBCI and the NCCI against giving `an undue representative character' to the RSS and said that by doing so, the Church leaders were casting doubts on their representative character.

They also pointed out that the claim of the Church and RSS leaders that their aim was to remove the misunderstanding between the Christian community and the Hindu community was also highly misleading as the problem was one created by the Sangh Parivar and there was no misunderstanding between the two communities.

They also questioned the secrecy surrounding the talks and said `the role of a particular member of the National Commission for Minorities adds to the gravity of the questions' raised by the proposed talks.

Both the CBCI and the NCCI had on earlier occasions admitted publicly the grave risks involved in having a dialogue with the RSS and other sections of the Sangh Parivar.

Even after that, the RSS had made several attacks on the minorities, including Christians, questioned their loyalty to the country and demanded reorganisation of their structures.

Based on a warped and narrow notion of nationalism, the RSS had stipulated conditions for tolerating the minorities. The RSS had stated that a meaningful dialogue with Christians would be possible only if Christians stopped conversions.

Both the CBCI and the NCCI had made it clear that such conditions were not acceptable to them. The people have a right to know how their apprehensions have been removed and what the conditions under which they have agreed for the dialogue and what the nature of their understanding with the RSS is, they said.

They also reminded the Church leaders that the RSS attacks were not directed exclusively at Christians and that they were part of a calculated campaign against all minorities and all those who stood for secular democracy in this country.

This problem cannot be dealt with by talks between Christians and the RSS. It was unfortunate that the Christian spiritual leaders have forgotten the agony of other minorities and the larger issues involved in holding secret bilateral talks with the RSS, Bishop Thomas Mar Athanasius and Prof. Ninan Koshy said.

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