Evangelisation of the 'Land of Hari Katha'

Evangelisation of the 'Land of Hari Katha'.

As I trace my ancestral roots to Andhra Pradesh, I have seen that it has always been known for its rich culture. Harikatha (lit. “stories of the Lord”), otherwise called Katha Kalakshepa is a form of Hindu religious discourse, also known as Katha storytelling format, in which the story teller explores a religious theme, usually the life of a saint or a story from an Indian epic. Harikatha was originated in Andhra. Harikatha Kalakshepam was very prevalent in Andhra Pradesh even till 15 years along with Burra katha. Haridasus going round villages singing devotional songs is an age-old tradition during Dhanurmaasam preceding Sankranti festival. Ajjada Adibhatla Narayana Dasu with his Kavyas and Prabandhas has made Harikatha a special art form. This rich form of Hindu story telling and many other such hindu traditions and hertitage started rapidly developing along coastal Andhra who most of the population traces its ancestry to Vijaynagar Kingdom. This telugu speaking coastal Andhra people very well knew the dangers Islam posed, with passing decades, Muslims have swelled in population and demographic changes started happening across Bharat, but not in coastal Andhra. Coastal Andhra never faced any communal disturbances as the people here are highly educated and are rooted to secular path shown in Hinduism and taking lessons from the fall of Vijaynagar Empire, they had extremely less Muslim settled over there. These people with such strong roots to Hinduism fell prey of Christian subversion of society.

This initially started with missionary schools opening up in rapid pace during late eighties when Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was PM across the region from Srikakullam to Ananthpur. This education mostly focussed on rational thinking which questions Hindu Faith, latter on after a decade, these educated people started questing each and every aspect of Hinduism leading a large population towards being Atheistic. Even during the 90s, where Andhra had large population of atheistic and Hindus didn’t matter much on the cultural front.

With YSR’s advent in 2004, evangelical activities increased alarmingly and mass conversions were witnessed in rural areas on a large scale. His open pandering to Church and missionaries emboldened evangelists to go all out in their conversion activities. They dared focus on Hindu pilgrimage sites such as Badrachalam, Simmachalam, Srisailam, Ahobilam, Mangalagiri, Kalahasthi, and didn’t spare Thirumala-Thirupathi! YSR aided the Church and missionaries in many ways. He sanctioned Rs. 80, 000/- per church for repair works in August 2006 as per GO MS. No: 21 dt 22/08/2006 (“CM Reddy okays public money for churches”, Deccan Chronicle, 23 August 2006) and an aid of Rs. 1.5 lakhs for the construction of each church. This is done while the government is controlling over 30,000 temples and taking all their revenue. Only 15% of temple revenue is given back for temple maintenance and salaries of priests. Over 40,000 priests earn a salary of only Rs. 500/- to Rs. 1000/- per month. The rest of the revenue is being used for other government schemes and minority welfare schemes, as in Tamil Nadu. The AP government is also auctioning cows and calves donated by devotees to Bhagwan Narasimhar Temple at Simhachalam to owners of abattoirs. With so much of revenue from temples, it is unfortunate that the government has not bothered to maintain a decent Goshala respecting the sentiments of Hindu devotees.

YSR was the desi version of Constantine, the ruler of the Roman Empire under whom Christianity established itself as a dominant force in Rome. Much like Constantine, YSR too promoted Christianity offering it state patronage. YSR’s son-in-law, Brother Anil Kumar is a well-known and established evangelist in Andhra Pradesh. Missionaries were given a free hand and bolstered by state support, they did what they do best: disconnect people from their roots and make the converts hate their own traditions, handed down to them since time immemorial. It was a common sight to watch troves of neo-converts move from village to village distributing evangelist literature in the form of books and pamphlets. The seed of Christianity was first sown by the British who had implanted several missions and Church institutions. In my village there are several families who had converted at the time of Independence. Under YSR, the missionaries received a shot in the arm and began to build upon the foundations laid by the British.

The state government identified 7000 acres of temple lands for sale to raise revenues of Rs. 20, 000 crores. In many places, those lands have been allegedly encroached upon by churches and missionaries with the connivance of government officials. Some have been given for construction of churches and mosques. Thousands of churches have been planted by missionaries throughout the state totally disproportionate to the Christian population – one church for every seven Christians! The number of churches stands at 148,000; the temples are 190,000 (one for every 350 Hindus) and Mosques figure at 176,000 (one for every 40 Muslims). The pastors of the planted churches straight away started their ‘harvests’ particularly in rural areas, where mass conversions have been rampant for the last five years. While the government figure of Christian population is 1.5% (2001 census), the Church itself puts the figure at 10 to 12%, which could certainly be more in view of the large scale conversion in the state. Most converts are Scheduled Castes who pretend to be Hindus to enjoy reservation benefits, while they practice Christianity at home. The AP Assembly passed a resolution for SC status for Christian and Muslim SC converts. Emboldened by the government’s attitude, missionaries made a focused assault on Thirumala Thirupathi. The YSR government facilitated such activities by releasing a GO saying Bhagwan Venkateswara’s assets were only two hills covering an area of 27.5 sq. kms., and the other five hills would be taken over by the government for converting them into a picnic spot with multiplexes, food courts, commercial, sports and entertainment infrastructures including a rope-way to reach the top of the hills.

After winning the elections, YSR and his family went on a pilgrimage to Bethlehem, at the end of May 2009 to offer thanksgiving prayers for the victory of the Congress party. He did the same in 2004 also. Little wonder that he subsidized Bethlehem/Jerusalem pilgrimage for Christians, first of its kind in the country, allotting a budget of 2 crores of rupees for 2008-09, apart from 5 crores of rupees for repairs of churches and mosques. Small wonder that Christians of all denominations favoured him in the 2009 elections. Rayalaseema Regional Christians’ Sadassu in Kadapa called upon Christians in the four Rayalaseema districts to vote for Congress to ensure further progress. Bishop of Rayalaseema Diocese, Yesu Varaprasad, former Bishop CVM Fredrick Babu, Rev. Fr. Samson and Banhur Babu of CSI Church, Pastor CSI Church, secretary Samuel Babu and Zion College of Physical Education K. Rajarathnam Isaac were present at Sadassu. They appreciated the various welfare schemes launched by government.

TDP president Chandrababu Naidu accused YSR of mismanagement of Thirumala Tirupati Devasthanam’s affairs and demanded dissolution of the TTD Board. In a press conference at TDP headquarters on 28 August, he said the assets of TTD were worth about Rs 30,000 crore, while the value of the jewellery could not be estimated as many jewels donated to the temple since Srikrishna Devaraya’s era were invaluable. Dr. Naidu said the Chief Minister would face the wrath of Lord Venkatesvara for indifference towards Tirumala, the Lord’s abode: “Lord Venkatesvara (Lord Balaji) is very powerful. This is a proven historical fact. Such people will pay a heavy price in the long run.” He said former Chief Minister NT Rama Rao wanted to develop Tirumala at par with Vatican City.

Then comes Karma for the Constantine of Andhra. He died in a chopper crash on 2nd Sept’2009. The loquacious spokesman of YSR Congress Party Ambati Rambabu has made a sensational charge that Congress President Sonia Gandhi has a role in the death of former Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhar Reddy. “The people of the state believe that YSR’s was not an accidental death but a well-planned murder,” Rambabu said.

The Andhra people are a hugely entrepreneurial set of people stuck in a corrupt socialist state. YSR bought in the populist scheme of providing rice at two rupees per Kg. He also devised a way to get the votes of elderly citizens by giving them pensions out of taxpayer money. This scheme is being continued by the current government.  Such populist schemes burnt a big hole in the pocket of the state exchequer. These schemes resulted in a sense of valuelessness of money—since the state provided and/or subsidized the essentials, people would spend even their hard earned money on liquor as accessibility was just a Belt Shop away. With lack of employment, massive corruption and lesser wealth creation opportunities, people migrated to greener pastures of the US, Bangalore and other states/countries. The cream of the Andhra society is abroad or in cities like Bangalore.

Andhra Pradesh is incomplete without a mention of its films, yes the gradual erosion of Hindu virtues made the masses worshipping film stars like Cheeranjivi, Nagarjuna and Pawan Kalyaan to name a few instead of their actual Gods. Missionaries thoroughly enjoyed this shift of devotion. Making of churches and granting special subsidies was not their win, this kind of shift in devotion was a win.

A Christian can do nothing else but seek to create more Christians into perpetuity. It is his religious duty. It is how this alien theocratic system and its fanatic adherents perpetuate themselves. Is Christianity a religion or spiritual system? No. It is an imperialistic political ideology that claims to have divine sanction. Its sole objective is world domination, based on an absurd and sinful world view. The spread of Christianity is against the Indian national interest. And if it continues unabated, Hindus, now a second class majority in their own land, will soon become a persecuted minority in their own land. Do not ever doubt it. Christianity has 2000 years of political experience behind it when it comes to undermining and subsuming the civilization it wishes to overthrow. And today Hindu civilization is the target.

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