INDIAN CRISTIANS AND INM

INDIAN CHRISTIANS AND THE INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT

There are many Hindutva ideologues and organisations that accuse the Christians in India that they did not participate in the freedom struggle. M.S. Golwalkar (1906-1973) who was the leader of the RSS for more than three decades, says in his Bunch of Thoughts (1966,1996) that Christians in India are not merely irreligious but also anti-nationals and internal threats to the security of the nation. He alleges that the Christians, in general, kept themselves aloof from the freedom struggle. In fact, they were on the side of the British who belonged to their own faith. The British in turn helped the Christian missionaries to materialise their ‘agenda’.

Arun Shourie, a prominent BJP leader who was a Cabinet Minister in the former BJP-led NDA government, states in his Missionaries in India (1994) a view similar to that of Golwalkar. Shourie says: “For over a hundred years thus missionary activity was interwoven with, and inextricably tied up with British imperial control of India: that the missionaries – even those of Indian origin – did not join the Independence Movement was not an accident”.

The saffronised NCERT school textbook for Class IX students on Social Sciences entitled Contemporary India (2002), while discussing the freedom movement bashes the Muslims and Communists as non patriots and totally ignores the Christian contribution to the freedom struggle. Obviously, the aim is to create a new generation of Indians fully indoctrinated in the Hindutva ideology who will hate these communities as anti-nationals.

The accusation that Christians did not participate in the freedom struggle is a very serious one against the Indian Christian community, and is a gross distortion of facts. But the distortion cannot be dismissed as mere ignorance, but deliberate and ideologically motivated. However, the true history of the Indian Independence movement presents us with a different picture than that which Golwalkar, Arun Shourie and the NCERT textbook provides. In spite of their insignificant number they did contribute their share in the freedom struggle as the following analysis, though not exhaustive, will show.

Felix Wilfred, an internationally renowned theologian, notes that those who look objectively at the history of the freedom struggle in India, would admit that there were Christian missionaries who gave full support to the nationalist cause to the embarrassment and indignation of the British colonial government. Among these missionaries the more well known names are: Stanley Jones, C.F.Andrews, J.C.Winslow, Varrier Elwin, Ralph Richard Keithahn and Ernest Forrester-Paton. Some missionaries were even deported from India for their support to nationalist cause. Given this situation, missionary sources do not speak about the political and nationalist involvement of missionaries for fear of having to come under the censure of the government. In spite of this, there were numerous Christians who involved themselves in the freedom struggle.

George Thomas, a well known Church historian maintains that, the Indian Christian Community played an influential role, especially in the early phase of the Indian National Congress – founded in 1885 – which was the premier instrument of political nationalism. According to him, the influence of Christians was impressive in the various sessions of the Indian National Congress. For example, in the third annual session of the Congress in 1887, out of 607 participants in the session, 15 were Indian Christians, and among those who addressed the assembly was Madhu Sudhan Das (1848-1934, popularly known as ‘Utkal Gourab’), a well-known leader from the Christian community in Orissa. The number and influence of Indian Christians continued to be impressive in the subsequent sessions of the Congress. Kali Charan Banerjee (1847-1907), a Bengali Christian and a fine orator, regularly addressed the annual sessions of the Congress in moulding the policy of National Movement. In the Congress session of 1889, among the ten women delegates, three were Christians: Pandita Ramabai Saraswati (1858-1922), Mrs. Triumbuck, Mrs. Nikambe.

There are records of active Christian participation in the Swaraj Movement (1905), the Non Co-operation Movement (1920), the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930) and the ‘Quit India’ Movement (1942). Since the 1920s, many Christian institutions and organisations like, the All India Conference of Indian Christians, the National Christian Council of India, Christian leaders and student groups related to United Theological College (Bangalore), Serampore Collge (Bengal), St. Paul’s College, Calcutta (Bengal), Malabr Christian College, Calicut (Kerala), the Youth Christian Council of Action (Kerala), the Student Christian Movement of India, the Indian Christian Association of Bengal, a conference of Christians in Bombay, a meeting of Christians in Palayamcotta and Tinnavelly, and the like, passed resolutions expressing complete solidarity with the freedom movement. Some of them even took part in massive manifestations against the British colonial governent.

In 1973 the government of Tamil Nadu published a list of freedom fighters of the State in three volumes under the title Who is Who of Freedom Fighters, Tamil Nadu. From these volumes D.Arthur Jayakumar has culled the names of 103 persons who have been positively identified as Christians. Basing ourselves on Jayakuamr’s findings we mention some of the outstanding Christians of Indian origin who took part in the freedom struggle.

J.C.Kumarappa (original name John Jesudason Cornelius, 1892-1960) was a veteran Congress leader. He received degrees from Ohio Wesleyan University, Boston University and the Universities of Harvard and Columbia. He was professor of Philosophy for some time at Lucknow University. On 9 May 1929 he met Mahatma Gandhi at Sabarmati ashram and that resulted in their becoming close associates. He was a strong supporter of Satyagraha, and encouraged Christian participation in the national movement.

Before Mahatma Gandhi started off the Dandy March in 1931, he encouraged Kumarappa to write regularly for his weekly Young India and informed him that he would be its editor after his imprisonment. Thus Kumarappa became editor of Young India and his fiery writings gave him one and a half years of rigorous imprisonment in 1931. But fortunately he was released after a couple of days, because of the Gandhi-Irwin Pact. He took up the editorship of Young India from Mahatma Gandhi in 1932, which again sent him to jail and was detained in Nasik prison for two and a half years. In 1942 he was under detention and trial for a year and a half in both Bombay and Nagpur. During the ‘Quit India Movement’, he had a hand in the underground activities in Bombay along with his Congress colleagues. These secret sabotage activities led to his arrest. He was sentenced to two and a half years of rigorous imprisonment for three charges and sent to Jabalpur Central Jail until 1945. After his release from the prison – his health completely broken down by then – he took rest at the guesthouse of Leonard Theological College, Jabalpur.

In July 1947 he joined the delegation nominated by Government of India to help India's economic interest in maritime transport at the meeting of shippers in London. Since he was also a prominent figure in Congress affairs, he was given a chance to be a member of the All India Congress Working Committee in place of Jay Prakash Narayan in 1947. But he rejected the offer in spite of Gandhi’s persuasion.

Paul Ramasamy (b.1906) was another important Christian who took part in the freedom struggle. In 1930 he joined the freedom movement during the Salt satyagraha days. He picketed the Bishop Herber College, Thiruchirappalli. He was arrested and sentenced to six months of imprisonment and was kept at Thiruchirapalli and Alipuram jails.

Venkal Chakkarai (b.1880) participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement started by Mahatma Gandhi. In 1930 K.T.Paul went to England to participate in the Round Table Conference. He decried the tendency among some Christians to keep aloof from the National Movement. Like these, there were many other prominent Christians who participated in the national movement either as part of the Congress or outside it.

Arthur Jayakumar says that when the Non-Co-operation Movement was started in 1920, there were Indian Christians in the whole of India who took part in it. The All India Conference of Indian Christians held at Lucknow between 27-30 December 1922 made a reference to some of the Indian Christians who had suffered imprisonment as a result of their involvement in the national movement. N.H.Tubbs, the principal of the Bishop College, Calcutta, wrote a confidential letter to his Mission dated 23 February 1921 stating “a very significant feature of the last months have been the deep interest of Christian students in the national non-co-operation movement”. In 1930 the editor of The Guardian said that a number of Christian young men have joined the Civil Disobedience Movement. Nirad Biswas who later became the bishop of Assam of the Church of India Burma and Ceylon (CIBC) joined the national movement in making salt outside Calcutta in 1932.

Geoerge Thomas notes that Barhmabandhab Upadhyaya (1861-1907) a ‘Hindu Catholic’ sadhu and theologian, played a leading role in the Swadeshi Movement. He was also one of the early leaders who enunciated the philosophy of Non-Co-operation Movement. He edited Sandhya, a national journal founded in 1904, and it had a decisive influence on the masses because it was the only vernacular paper in Bengali, which boldly advocated complete Indian Nationalism. Again, a conference of leading Christians from all over India held at Ranchi in 1923 passed a resolution to give full support to the national movement. In 1930, among the 78 persons who accompanied Mahatma Gandhi during his Salt March from Sabarmati ashram to Dandi, there was a Christian named Thevarthundiyil Titus Titus, a young disciple of Gandhi and a member of a Christian family of Travancore. In the freedom and pro-democracy movement in Travancore in the 1930s and 1940s, prominent Christian leaders like T.M. Varghese, A.J. John, Anne Mascarenes and Akkamma Cherian were pioneering forces. Philoppose Elanjikkal John (1903-1955) was another prominent member of the Travencore State Congress.

Joachim Alva (1907-1979) was another outstanding personality in the history of the freedom struggle. He was profoundly influenced by Mahatma Gandhi’s ideals. As a student leader, he was the pioneer of youth movement in India. He gave whole-hearted devotion to the national movement and gave up his lucrative job in order to dedicate himself for the freedom struggle. He was also a journalist of high calibre who vigorously advocated the concept of swadesh and human brotherhood, especially through his Forum. Mrs.Violet Alva (1908-1969) was another personality with abiding nationalist interest. About the involvement of the Alvas in the freedom movement it has been said: “The combination of Joachim Alva and Violent Alva to the Freedom Movement is significant [….] They risked their all, but they served [the country] to the full extent of their ability which they had in plenty”.

M.V.Kamath, an RSS ideologue and a regular columnist in the RSS weekly the Organiser is a person with little sympathy for Christians. Yet in his autobiography he acknowledges that several Christians took part in the freedom movement and mentions the names of Cyprian Alvares, Joachim Alva, Marcel A. M. D’Souza as Christian freedom fighters. He says: “It is necessary to state that many Roman Catholics I personally know of were very much in the freedom movement and national mainstream”.

The History of Freedom Movement in Kerala, vol.II (2001) contains a mine of information about the participation of Christians in the freedom movement. Travancore received English education by foreign agencies as early as 1806. The new generation under the impact of Western civilisation came to have a broad social and political outlook. The people became independent in spirit and critical in their attitude. They also became conscious of their rights and privileges. For example, in the popular agitation, which came to be known as the “Travancore Memorial” or the “Malayali Memorial” of 1861, drafted and presented to the Maharaja on 11 January 1891, a demanded was made for political rights for the people of Travancore. The Malayali Memorial was an important landmark in the political awakening of the people for mightier movements in later days. The submission of the demand by the Memorial marks the awakening for the first time, of the educated sections of the State of Kerala. It reflected the political aspirations of the leading communities like, Nair, Ezhava, Nambudiri, Latin Christian, Syrian Christian and Anglo-Indian.

Many Christians were associated with the Malayali Memorial and some of them presided over its public meetings. The political meetings held at North Parur, Kottayam and Trivandrum were presided over by Christians like Father Hilarion, Vicar of the Parur Chruch, Rt.Rev.Mar Athanasius, the Matropolitan of the Syrian Church and T.F.Lloyd an Anglo Indian, respectively. In the conference held at Kottyam on 3 June 1891 to examine the contents of the Memorial was attended by prominent Christians like Varghese Mappila and Mani Kathanar, along with leaders of various other communities

George Joseph (1887-1938) was another outstanding Christian who engaged in the freedom struggle. He was one of the three members of the Home Rule deputation sent to England in 1918 to present the Indian case before British public. It has been said that the landslide in the opinion of the Indian Christian Community in favour of nationalism was very much ascribable to his dynamic leadership.

George Joseph represented a high type of culture. He studied at Madras Christian College then he passed out of the Middle Temple, England in 1909. He started legal practice at Madurai, his town of adoption, and was soon attracted to the Home Rule Movement and given training in political organisation by Mrs. Annie Besant. He was one of the first batch of barristers who sacrificed their comforts to engage themselves in national work and joined the Non-Co-operation Movement and boycott of foreign cloth shops. At the bidding of Motilal Nehru he discarded his fashionable dress for the coarser homespun and associated himself as editor of the Allahabad daily The Independent which used to exercise a profound influence on its readers. In 1920 he courted arrest and was kept in Allahabad prison. He was subsequently sentenced to rigorous imprisonment in the course of the Non-Co-operation Movement in 1921. Later he became the editor of the Young India, Mahatma Gandhi’s weekly. In 1922 he was arrested for sedition and spent a year in the Lucknow district jail along with Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahadev Desai, Purushottamdas Tondon and Devdas Gandhi. In 1924 after resigning his membership of the Indian National Congress he went back to the bar, shifting his practice later to Madras. But again he became an active Congress worker.

George Joseph was also invited to assume the leadership of the Satyagraha movement. He led the Vaikam Satyagraha for which he was beaten and arrested and sentenced to imprisonment. Mahatma Gandhi wrote to George Joseph on 6 April 1924 that the latter should let the Hindus do the job and not offer Satyagraha himself so far as the Nagpur resolution of the Congress had called on the Hindus to wipe out untouchability. However, before the letter reached, George Joseph had already joined the Satyagraha. In 1937 George Joseph was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly. He was also the editor of the South Indian Mail.

George Joseph expired on 6 March 1938. Jawaharlal Nehru makes a reference to him in his Autobiography. Of him it is said that he did not pop his tail between the hind legs but if he sowed the wind he was equally ready to reap the whirlwind.

C.Samuel Aaron was another noteworthy Christian who participated in the national movement. He was a great industrialist of North Malabar. The active participation of the Aarons in the national movement began with the Salt Satyagraha Movement of 1930. As the Salt Satyagrahis of Kerala reached the village of Chombal on 16 April 1930, the local residents under the leadership of Samuel Aaron gave them a rousing reception. On 21 April 1930 when the Salt Satragrahis led by K.Kelappan reached the village of Pariyaram near Payyannur, Mrs Gracy Aaron led the women and showered flowers and rice on them. The Satyagraha camp at Payyannur was located on the spacious premises of the large coconut farm belonging to Samuel Aaron.

Samuel Aaron had given the Brighter Hotel Buildings at Cannanore belonging to him for temporary use by the Congress Satayagrahis intent on breaking the salt law from 22 May to 1 June 1930. E.M.Gawne, Collector of Malabar requested Samuel Aaron to evict the Satyagrahis on the threat of prosecution. Samuel Aaron replied that he was willing to face the prosecution though, he added, he could not guess what offence he had committed, for the Congress had not yet declared to be an unlawful organisation. He was charged under section 157 and sentenced to pay a fine of Rs 1000 or undergo rigorous imprisonment for six weeks in default. Since Samuel Aaron refused to pay the fine, he was taken to the Central jail at Cannanore. On 18 July the Payyannur police went to the weaving factory owned by Samuel Aaron at Pazhayangadi with a warrant for claiming his movable property to realise the fine of Rs 1000 imposed on him. They took car-loads of things found in the factory. It has been observed that the participation of the Aarons in the national movement was of unique importance for the Christian community in South India.

Among the leading Christian women leaders who took part in the freedom struggle mention may be made of Mrs. George Joseph, Mrs. Gracy Aaron, Mrs Margaret Pavamani, Miss Mary Thomas and Miss Matilda Kalten.

The rise of modern journalism in Kerala gave a great impetus to the growth of political consciousness. The press became an important medium through which the Western ideas of freedom and democracy began to permeate among the members of the middle class and gradually among the masses. Printing press had been introduced into Kerala by Christians missionaries at the end of the sixteenth century. Probably Rajya Samacharam published by the Basel Mission from June 1847 was the first journalistic publication in Malayalam and its virtual editor was the great German scholar Herman Gundert. Next came Paschimodayam, a monthly, published by Basel Mission at Tellicherry from October 1847. Gundert was associated with this monthly also. It was followed by Paschima Taraka published from Cochin in 1862-1863 and later from Trivandrum. Satyanada Kahalam was published first from Koonamavu and later from Varapuzha and Ernakulam. This was the predecessor of Satyanadam which came to be published as a weekly, and a certain C.Varkey served as its editor for about 48 years. In 1887 Nazrani Deepikaa appeared and in the course of time it became a daily with the tittle Deepika published from Kottyam. In 1888 Malayala Manorma Company was started at Kottayam by Varghese Mappilla Kandathil (1858-1904). He was first the editor of Kerala Mitram, a weekly newspaper, and later of Malayala Manorama (1890 onwards). All these journalistic writings which contributed to political awakening and shaped public opinion and national consciousness were run by Christians.

Considering the numerical insignificance of the Christians in India compared to the Hindus who form the majority population, the Christian contribution in freedom struggle is indeed commendable. In addition, we need to remember that the vast majority of the Christians of India belong to the lower casts and during the independence movement they were still struggling to emancipate themselves from the clutches of the upper castes of Hinduism. Again, Christianity moulded the minds of men, women, children and youth through their educational institutions so that they began to long for freedom from every form of oppression, including the colonial rule. This was also a form of participation of the Christians in the freedom struggle.

Thus patriotism is indeed a Christian virtue. The Indian Christians truly identified themselves with the Indian national movement and demonstrated their deepest concern for the cause. In fact, they were among the prominent persons pioneered and shaped the goals of Indian nationalism. Therefore, as George Thomas rightly observes, the Indian Christian community was not behind any other community in their desire for national freedom and in their readiness to work and make sacrifices for it.

But contrary to the general belief, patriotism was not always a Hindu virtue. The narrow-minded Hindus and their organisations like the Hindu Mahasabha, RSS and others fought for the Hindu religion, Hindu culture, Hindu society and Hindu rashtra. Their real enemies were not the British but the Muslims and the Christians, as is evident from their numerous subversive activities and aggressive pronouncements. Prominent Hindu leaders like Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, V.D.Savarkar, B.S.Moonje, M.S.Golwalkar and others stood for the Hindu religion and Hindu rashtra. Theirs was, therefore, a negative nationalism.

The Hindu Mahasbha and the RSS did not participate in the Congress-led independence movement. For most of them, reforming Hindu religion and Hindu society had priority over asking the British to quit India as was the case with Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Swami Vivekananda and Gopal Krishna Agarkar, a close associate of Tilak. Whenever occasion demanded several Hindu leaders tried their best to curry favour with the British with the secret hope that when the latter leaves India the country would be handed over to the Hindutva ideologues so that their pet dream of a Hindu rashtra could be realised. Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi because the independent India was not the Hindu rashtra he had dreamt and laboured for. Godse wrote in his last will: “My ashes may be sunk in the Holy Sindhu river when she will again flow freely under the aegis of the flag of Hindustan. [….] It hardly matters even if it took a couple of generations for realising my wish. Preserve the ashes till then”.

The Indian struggle for independence was a complex phenomenon with various streams and forces contributing to it. Among those who fought for the freedom of India were great men like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other secularists. Most of them belonged to the Indian National Congress. There were also true patriots who did not belong to it. However, the one thing common to all of them is that they conceived a secular and culturally pluralistic India – unlike the Hindutva ideologues – and among them were also, as we have seen above, many Christians. Their vision of India went far beyond the Hindu rashtra. Thus they advocated positive nationalism. Hence the question as to who really fought for the freedom of India can be very embarrassing for many Hindutva organisations and Hindutva leaders like, V.D.Savarkar, M.S.Golwalkar, Arun Shourie and their acolytes in the Sangh Parivar.