Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09CHENNAI100
2009-04-02 06:29:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Chennai
Cable title:  

BHARAT BALLOT 09: "FORCED CONVERSIONS" FUEL POLITICAL

Tags:  PGOV PHUM KIRF SOCI IN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7513
RR RUEHAST RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHDBU RUEHLH RUEHNEH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCG #0100/01 0920629
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020629Z APR 09
FM AMCONSUL CHENNAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 2194
INFO RUCNCLS/ALL SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA COLLECTIVE
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3596
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0219
RUEHRL/AMEMBASSY BERLIN 0043
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0201
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW 0138
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0133
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0135
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0229
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CHENNAI 000100 

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF SOCI IN
SUBJECT: BHARAT BALLOT 09: "FORCED CONVERSIONS" FUEL POLITICAL
DEBATE IN KARNATAKA

REFS: A) CHENNAI 98, B)CHENNAI 25, C) 08 CHENNAI 350, D) CHENNAI
326, E) NEW DELHI 2513

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 CHENNAI 000100

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF SOCI IN
SUBJECT: BHARAT BALLOT 09: "FORCED CONVERSIONS" FUEL POLITICAL
DEBATE IN KARNATAKA

REFS: A) CHENNAI 98, B)CHENNAI 25, C) 08 CHENNAI 350, D) CHENNAI
326, E) NEW DELHI 2513


1. (U) Summary: Political conversations in Karnataka are peppered
with references to "forced" or "forcible" conversion. Although the
term has been defined in various states' legal statutes and
interpreted by the Indian Supreme Court, different religious
communities in the state -- particularly Hindus and Christians --
continue to understand and use the term to mean different things.
The state's more conservative Hindu groups see "forcible
conversions" of Hindus by Christians as an alarming, offensive, and
pervasive ongoing practice. Christians, on the other hand, find the
concept baffling, contending that it is not logically possible for
anyone to be "forced" to convert to their religion. These different
interpretations have concrete political consequences. Much
Christian charity work -- a central component of Christian churches'
activities in India -- is interpreted by some Hindu groups in
Karnataka as offering illegal inducements to lower-caste Hindus to
convert. While Christian groups strongly dispute this assertion,
this interpretation of "forced conversion" provides political fodder
to some groups in Karnataka, contributing to the violent
religion-fueled outbreaks that have rocked the state over the past
year. End Summary.

Conversion: a hot topic in Mangalore
--------------


2. (U) The city of Mangalore, Karnataka (350 km west of Bangalore,
on India's southwest coast) has seen several outbursts of
religiously tinted violence. We traveled there in mid-March to
explore the possible sources of this violence and discuss the
upcoming parliamentary elections. In conversations centering around
the elections and the violence the city has witnessed over the past
six months (particularly the attacks on Christian churches in
September 2008 and the January attack on a local pub, refs B and E),
we found our interlocutors of various faiths repeatedly returning to
the subject of religious conversions as a controversial and
important social and political issue in the region. Mangalore's
peculiar economic and demographic realities (particularly its
sizable Christian population -- ref A) amplify the importance of

this subject for local politics.


3. (SBU) The political discourse in Karnataka reached a particularly
fevered pitch just after the September church attacks, with the
state's top politicians, including Chief Minister Yeddiyurappa
decrying "forcible conversions" and making public statements
suggesting that the practice had inflamed passions to the point that
it had encouraged the violence (ref E). Home Minister Acharya said
much the same thing in a meeting with the Consul General ten days
after the attacks (ref D).

The legalities of "forcible conversion"
--------------


4. (U) Dr. Sandeep Shastri, Director of Bangalore's International
Academy for Creative Teaching, explained to us that although India's
constitution allows for the "propagation" of religion, India's
Supreme Court has ruled (particularly in a landmark 1977 case) that
"conversion" is not necessarily a protected religious practice. He
explained that the Court's general test of whether or not a
conversion is "forcible" is whether it is the result of "inducement,
allurement, or coercion." (That specific phrase comes from
Maharashtra's 1968 law outlawing "forcible conversion," which was
upheld in the 1977 ruling.) He also told us (as did several other
interlocutors) that Indian courts have never successfully prosecuted
anyone for engaging in "forcible conversion," but a few contacts
said that they believed there were some ongoing cases elsewhere in
India (i.e, not in Karnataka).

Christians scoff at the concept . . .
--------------

CHENNAI 00000100 002 OF 004




5. (SBU) Our Christian interlocutors (mainly Roman Catholics and
evangelicals) openly ridiculed what they viewed as the logical
impossibility of "forcible conversion." They told us that becoming
Christian requires a person to make an individual, conscientious
choice to accept and follow the tenets of Christianity and that any
choice made under duress or false pretenses violates the very tenets
of the faith. Our Roman Catholic interlocutors (including
Mangalore's Bishop and the Principal of Mangalore's most prestigious
college) told us that their church had little interest in promoting
conversions of any sort, and emphasized that institutions associated
with their religions (particularly schools and hospitals) studiously
avoided activities that might be perceived as encouraging conversion
and served people of all religions.


6. (SBU) A pastor from the evangelical "New Life Fellowship"
admitted that evangelicals were aggressive proselytizers, but
emphasized that it was simply not logically possible for any
Christian to "force" anybody to convert to Christianity. He also
emphasized the importance of "sharing the faith" as a central tenet
of evangelical Christianity. All of our Christian interlocutors
told us repeatedly that there had not been a single case of "forced
conversion" ever demonstrated in an Indian court, and emphasized
that local Hindu zealots used the term simply to fire up their
political supporters.

. . . While Hindus take offense
--------------


7. (SBU) Dr. Madhav Bhandary, Zonal Chief of Mangalore for the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (a Hindu nationalist organization
usually referred to simply as the RSS) began his conversation with
us by explaining that Hinduism was not a religion, but a "dharma"
that encompassed all of India's religions and its people. (He said
that the English language has no good translation of "dharma," but
that understanding it as "a way of life" was a reasonable
approximation.) Because Hinduism is so all-inclusive, he argued, an
Indian choose any number of religious paths (including Christianity
or Islam) while necessarily remaining firmly within the Hindu
dharma. Attempts to convert someone, he said, threaten local
culture and give offense because the very concept of conversion
suggests that the Hindu dharma is incomplete or unworthy. He also
said that religious minorities like Christians and Muslims were
welcome in India, but that they needed to observe certain Hindu
traditions, such as the wearing of a thread around the neck of a
bride during her wedding, and recognize the sensitivities of the
majority.


8. (SBU) We heard similar views from M.B. Puranik, President of the
Mangalore Division of the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP),who described
his organization as helping to promote and protect social and temple
life for Hindus. (Both the VHP and RSS belong to a family of Hindu
organizations known as the Sangh Parivar, which also includes the
Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP) He emphasized that everyone born in
India is a Hindu, and that India is the only place where Hinduism is
protected. Other religions, he stressed, "have many countries to
call home, while Hindus have only India." He argued that
conversions were therefore a threat because they risked upsetting
the country's demographic balance, thereby weakening Hinduism's only
homeland.

Other Hindu complaints
--------------


9. (SBU) Both Bhandary and Puranik complained about Christian
proselytizers, particularly the evangelical groups they referred to
as "New Life." (A New Life pastor explained to us that Hindu
critics in Mangalore tend to refer to all of the more than 25
evangelical congregations in the city as "New Life" churches,
although there is technically only one.) They said that
evangelizing missionaries routinely and openly denigrate Hindu gods

CHENNAI 00000100 003 OF 004


and religious practices in their preaching as part of their attempts
to convert people in and around Mangalore. Puranik also lamented
that these Christian groups had weekly opportunities to gather and
reinforce their message, a form of iterative support alien to those
promoting the Hindu way of life who must therefore find other ways
of spreading their information.


10. (SBU) A senior state bureaucrat told us that Christian churches
are spreading rapidly throughout Karnataka, creating the perception
that this phenomenon is disturbing the demographic balance in the
state. He also said that even many people who refer to themselves
as Hindus still attend regular church services, making it difficult
to fully understand how widespread this trend is. This, he
explained, is because lower-caste Hindus enjoy government quotas for
employment and other benefits, but lose them after they become
Christians. (The GOI established these benefits and programs to
help those historically discriminated against in the Hindu caste
system and does not recognize Christianity or Islam as having
castes.) He emphasized that the perception of a rapidly growing
Christian population is causing significant unease in the state,
particularly among more conservative Hindus.


11. (SBU) Bhandary and Puranik also both emphasized the
offensiveness of a publication ("Satya Darshini") that "New Life"
missionaries were distributing in Karnataka prior to the September
2008 church attacks. They said that the pamphlet was a particularly
offensive diatribe against Hindu religious practices and gods that
inflamed passions and led to the attacks. (The "New Life" pastor we
spoke with strenuously denied that his congregation had anything to
do with the publication or distribution of "Satya Darshini" and
claimed that it had been in circulation throughout India for more
than a decade.) Puranik expressed remorse at the attacks on
churches, emphasizing that "the elders" would never have approved
such violent activities, but noted that the episode showed the raw
emotion of Hindu youth in the face of blatantly offensive behavior
by proselytizing Christians.


12. (SBU) Puranik also leveled criticism at the government for
failing to serve the population adequately. This failure, he
argued, allowed Christian groups to offer services, especially in
health and education, which present potential inducements,
particularly for the poor. (Both Puranik and Bhandary are heavily
involved in providing basic services; Puranik runs multiple
educational institutions and Bhandary is a medical doctor currently
working for the Mangalore city government as the chair of its Urban
Development Authority.)

Inducements and allurements aplenty
--------------


13. (SBU) A professor at a secular university (with no obvious
affinity for any particular religious tradition) told us that the
government's failure to provide adequate basic services was an
important factor in the tensions between religious communities in
the region. He specifically noted that Hindu hospitals and schools
are in direct competition with Christian ones to serve the poor and
uneducated, who are generally perceived as the most likely source of
potential converts to Christianity. This sense of competition, he
argued, fueled tensions and caused many Hindus to perceive Christian
efforts to provide health and education services as little more than
tools to induce the unwitting down a path towards conversion.


14. (SBU) Several Christians we spoke with admitted that many of
their works of charity may be perceived by critics as "inducements
or allurements." (No one we spoke with mentioned coercion as a
proselytizing tool used in the region.) They disputed this
characterization, emphasizing that Christian churches around the
world consider providing services to the poor as a critical
obligation of their beliefs and not as a propagation tactic, but
recognized that it might be difficult for some non-Christians to
differentiate.

CHENNAI 00000100 004 OF 004




15. (SBU) The "New Life" pastor explained to us the dilemma this
presents to Christians. From his perspective, if a needy woman
asked him for money to send her daughter to school, he would give it
to her not because he is trying to convert her, but simply because
he is a compassionate human being. Critics, however, could accuse
him of offering inducements, he noted.


16. (SBU) Similarly, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Mangalore told us
that even traditional institutions run by his church (like
hospitals) were receiving increasingly frequent complaints from
Hindu critics that they ought to only be serving Christians. He
also related several recent incidents where the church's hospitals
and ambulances have been attacked by Hindu thugs for offering
services to non-Christians. He argued that these perceptions of his
church's good works in the region were a new phenomenon, and a
distinct change from earlier views, which had seen the church's
involvement in these services as a useful contribution to society's
advancement.

Comment: The importance of grammar
--------------


17. (SBU) One thing that became clear in our conversations in
Mangalore was that Christians and Hindus used the verb "convert" in
different ways. For the Hindus, the verb is transitive, connoting
an action performed by one person towards another: person A tries
to convert person B. (This is also how India's Supreme Court used
the term in its 1977 decision.) For Christians, however, the verb
is intransitive, suggesting a personal decision: person A wants to
convert to Christianity. This grammatical distinction has serious
implications. The Hindus we spoke with tended to understand
conversion (whether "forcible" or not) as something that Christians
do to other people, necessarily violating the religious freedom of
the "target" individual. This, in their view, necessitates action
to protect presumed unwitting individuals from the allurement and
inducements offered by Christian proselytizers.


18. (SBU) Legitimate differences in theology and friction generated
from a clash between modernization and tradition may explain the
inter-religious tension in Mangalore. These factors alone, however,
probably do not provide the entire explanation for the violent
incidents the city has witnessed over the past several months. An
important factor is undoubtedly the fact that some Hindu chauvinists
are using the perception that Christian groups target Hindus for
religious conversion to whip up political support. It is not yet
clear whether these political strategies will succeed in attracting
more votes than they drive away, but it is unfortunate that
Mangalore's different religious communities seem to have difficulty
in finding common ground.

SIMKIN