The experiences bestowed by Kanchi-Mahaswami — Part 28
Mandaikadu Religious Riots, Venugopal commission recommendations
“Though all forms of religious conversions are bad, let us not abuse the proselytizers and need not canvass against them” was the sagely advice given by Kanchi Mahaswami. But, why did he think to bring anti-conversion law? We can find answers in the two earth-shaking events that had happened in TN in the 1980s — En masse conversion at Meenakshipuram and riots at Mandaikadu.
Meenakshipuram conversion: Indira, Zail Singh, Vajpayee, MGR
Mass conversion of certain backward members of the society to Islam had happened at Meenakshipuram (Thirunelveli District), in May 1981. This news was published in Indian Express and spread like wildfire all across India. Subsequently, many family members of 3 adjacent districts converted to Islam. It raised concerns among central & state governments. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, President Zail Singh, Opposition leader Vajpayee, TN Chief Minister MGR suspected the role of foreign hands, money power, and influence in the mass conversion. They expressed their opinion publicly. Vajpayee came to Meenakshipuram. TN RSS leader Suryanarayana Rao had requested me to prepare detailed notes for the study of Vajpayee & Central governments. I will share that experience and one more related to conversion in the next chapters.
After the Meenakshipuram conversion, in 1982, due to the conversion by Christians, the female Hindu devotees in Mandaikadu were attacked near the Devi temple. Then, it became a rift between the two communities. Both the incidents generated mass opinions against conversion. The well-respected Ramagoplan started the organization “Hindu Munnani” after the Meenakshipuram conversion. MGR formed the Venugopal commission to enquire. He had requested the sagely advice of the Kanchi Saint. Let me elaborate on the background behind the request. It may help to throw more light on the matter.
Mandaikadu riots, the reason behind is the conversion
How did the Mandaikadu conversion happen? Muthuraj Swami from Kanyakumari had captured this in his 2012 Ph.D. Thesis (P207–228). He was a student of two Jesuit priests — Reverend Jesi Nesakumar & Reverend Dr. John V.Sundaram and learned Christian Theology (1993–97). Based on the details given by unbiased Christians, Muthuraj had arrived at the following snippets: “ In Kanyakumari fundamentalist Christian organizations like CSI, Lutheran church, Roman Catholic church, the Pentecostal church was responsible for the conversion. These organizations and their followers were continuously antagonizing the local Hindus. In the firm belief that their religion is superior, they were ridiculing and condemning the Hindu practices. The Hindu Gods were abused and protested against Hindu practices. They conducted conferences, abused the Hindu religion, tom-tommed about the superiority of their religion, Jesus is the only savior, Christianity is the only true religion, and distributed pamphlets in the Hindu temples on the same. They did the same in the annual festival at the Devi temple in Mandaikadu”. They were holding anti-Hindu conferences.
In the 1940s, such conferences were banned by the Travancore govt. After that, each Christian fundamentalist church was conducting its conferences, every year. In that conference, they abused Hindus as heathens, worshippers of satan, Children of satan, etc. The balanced Christians claim that such utterances were due to the wrong understanding of their religion. RSS protested against the vicious campaigns. In few places, there were physical fights. This sowed the seeds for the riots in Mandaikadu. Since many Hindus including RSS were visiting the temple from outside, the Christians did not want the festival to be conducted. Conflicts continued between the two communities. The Hindus turned their broadcast (via loudspeakers) towards the churches and the Christians turned theirs towards the temples. In this turmoil, Christians stopped the Hindu female worshippers, who were returning from the sea, after taking a bath. This news spread and riots erupted between them. Police did their shooting to control the riots and six Christians were killed.
Based on the evidence given by the unbiased Christians, Muthuraj Swami constructed his thesis (Religion, Religion conflicts and interreligious dialogue in India: An interrogation, Muthuraj Swami, Ph.D. University of Edinburgh 2012; https://www.researchgate.net/publication/292436897_Religion_religious_conflicts_and_interreligious_dialogue_in_India_an_interrogation )
Further, on the day of the festival, between 2000–3000 Christian fishermen had attacked the Hindu shops, harassed Hindu devotees, women devotees, and police. Twenty-five policemen were injured and that led to the shooting. The police report claimed that six people died and fifteen were injured. Again in the funeral procession, the Christians accused the RSS of forcing the police to shoot and indulged in violence. On the other side, the Hindus were rioting too. The public property was destroyed (http://www.rjisacjournal.com/mandaikadu-riots/ ).
MGR had gone to Kanyakumari to oversee the situation by himself. He had convened a meeting of all Christian & all Hindu organizations. The then south Tamilnadu RSS coordinator, L.Ganesan (now, he is part of BJP) & Senior congress leader, Thanulinga Nadar, a close associate Kamaraj were also there. Ganesan shared the proceedings with me. During the meeting, Thanulinga Nadar was very silent. At the end of the meeting, Thanulinga Nadar said, “ We want to file a complaint about a particular person. But, he is part of this meeting. He was biased in his handling of this issue and supported openly the Christians. He acted against the interests of Hindus. Only when the Christian thugs started attacking the police, the police force retaliated”. Later, he met MGR in private and shared his thoughts, very boldly. This was shared by L.Ganesan and he had decided that Nadar was the future leader of Hindu Munnani. Later, Nadar was invited to join Hindu Munnani and rose to the state leadership position. Under the aegis of Thanulinga Nadar, Hindu Munnani had his phenomenal growth in Tamilnadu. The reason behind the formation of Hindu Munnani is conversion. it is an offshoot of the Mandaikadu riots.
Anti-conversion law, recommended by Venugopal Commission
MGR had formed the commissions in 1982 with the following agenda — what was the reason behind the riots? How to stop the religious riots in the future? It was a one-man commission, headed by Justice Venugopal. He was a supporter of EVR Periyar. He would not have been a supporter of the Hindu cause. The minimum thing that was expected was the unbiased approach. After 3.5 years of study of this issue, the commission tabled its report on 21-Sep-1985. It gave details about the background behind riots, how the Christian organizations were drawing ire because of the anti-Hindu propaganda, the simmering tension between the two communities due to conversion, and gave evidence to support its claim. It further recommended 34 recommendations to stop such occurrences in the future. Some of the important recommendations are:
- Violence, cheating, under the guise of material help, religious conversions are happening. It leads to disharmony in the society, law & order is affected and riots are fomented. States like MP, Odisha, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura have enacted laws against religious conversion. TN can follow them and frame laws
- The proximity of worship places of different religions denominations can be prevented
- Based on the guidelines given in the 44th article of the Indian constitution, Uniform Civil Code can be formulated that will help to protect the Human rights of Indian citizens without the religious discrimination
- Since the hate speeches through loudspeakers play an active role in creating conflicting situation and riots, the police law should be amended suitably to handle this menace
- Religious processions of one community should not be allowed to enter the dwelling, whether the other communities are living
- Framing laws to regulate foreign funding that aids conversion
In general, the recommendations of such commissions are not binding. Most of them get tabled in parliament/assembly and will be an eye-wash. Contrary to that, MGR accepted the Venugopal commission recommendations. TN Government in a government order (# 916, published on 29-Apr-1986), ‘ This government is accepting the recommendations (related to legal, justice, administration, police force, economic advancement) of the commission. The recommendation to restrict unlawful conversion through law (as made in other states) is accepted’.
