Stop blaming the Jesuits for the violence, the insurrection without proof. Indian Catholics do not divide

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A church in Kottayam, Kerala | Photo: Fatima Khan | The imprint

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It is ironic that entrepreneur Jaithirth Rao, in his article in ThePrint titled “Marxist Jesuits are not for the welfare of tribes. India and Indian Catholics both need to understand this, ”begins with a reference to what he calls the tragic circumstances surrounding the recent death of Father Stan Swamy.

This is an understatement. It sounds like a period of bad weather, inevitable. The ruthless murder in custody of Father Swamy has been strongly condemned both at home and abroad. But Rao sidesteps all of this, downplaying it as tragic circumstances, and moves on to what is the bigger picture for him.

The title of the article seems to imply that India and Indian Catholics are separate entities, as if Indian Catholics are not part of Indian politics.

I would like to convey my thoughts both as an Indian and as a Catholic in India. I find his conclusion bizarre.

Read also: Sister Mariam Thresia, the nun of Kerala declared a saint, led an austere life from an early age

Zero proof

Rao cites no evidence, other than vague references to interacting with sane Jesuits (who?) Who admit to him “directly or indirectly” “their frustration with the fact that the loudest and most active elements of their order today ‘hui are Marxists’.

For Rao, anyone who agrees with him seems reasonable, and those with whom he does not agree are therefore not.

To convince the reader that he knows the Jesuits well enough, he displays his own, that of his father and his brothers and sisters in Jesuit institutions, and speaks of terms such as the Latin Mass, Gregorian chant, liberation theology. and drops names like de Nobili, de Mello, Gutirrez, etc., but bending them according to his own preconceptions.

For Rao, India’s tribal people are believed to be powerless in the face of imaginary grievances. It’s a sneaky insert, suggesting their issues aren’t what they’re supposed to be. Again, he doesn’t bother to explain why he thinks they are supposedly helpless or which of their grievances are imaginary. Does he have field experience of their problems and the injustices of which they are victims?

Read also: Are Hindus really the victims in India? Of what, asks Barkha Dutt

Hindu victim, unmasked

Rao drops his mask, a Freudian slip, when the dominant Hindu man (caste) that he is, writes that he is worried about the attack on the dominant Hindu man, this part of society very victimized.

I watched a video of the launch of his book, The Indian Conservative: A History of Right-Wing Indian Thought, during a conversation with Gurcharan Das, and his greater paranoia about the capture of intellectual institutions in India and abroad (since 1968, apparently) is pretty obvious. In this video, he dismisses ideas that contradict his own as garbage and nonsense.

But after watching the video, it helped me better understand where Rao is coming from when he writes that market capitalism has actually done the best job when it comes to poverty reduction. There is tons of evidence that it has impoverished millions of people, not reduced poverty and inequality. I could provide him with a list of recommended reads, but I suspect he will dismiss them all with judgments similar to nonsense and garbage.

Rao darkly alludes to the current Jesuit propensity for violence and insurrection, but again, he provides absolutely no evidence. You just have to take your word for it, without asking any questions.

Watching the video also helped me understand why for Rao Indian state and Hindu society are synonymous, because he mentions them in the same breath. He seems unable, or unwilling, to envision an inclusive pluralist political system that is enshrined in our Constitution.

He speaks in a very condescending tone to Indian Catholics as if we are unable to think for ourselves.

Rao wrote an extremely controversial and inflammatory article without any real evidence to back up his claim. After reading it, that’s what I realize, I, an Indian Catholic.

Dr Luis Dias is a doctor, musician and writer. He tweets @diasfluis. Opinions are personal.

(Edited by Prashant Dixit)

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