At a public commemoration, he attacked the educational work carried out during British rule, saying it was intended to ‘undermine Indian identity’. The local bishops’ conference replied: ‘A gross distortion of history that only seeks to create divisions in modern India’
Chennai () – The Tamil Nadu Catholic Bishops’ Council (TNBC) and the Tamil Nadu Latin Rite Bishops’ Council (TNLBC) have issued a “strong condemnation” of the governor of this Indian state, RN Ravi, for spreading – during a recent event – what they call “false propaganda”. This was a speech given on Saturday 7 September at the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Mylapore Education Group in Chennai, praised by Governor Ravi for its contribution to the emergence of a new Bharat (the Indian nation) and the promotion of education in Sanskrit (the sacred language of the Hindus). Words, however, were accompanied by derogatory comments against the educational work of missionaries during British rule.
The Bishops’ Council called these words historically inaccurate and deeply “offensive.” “They are a gross distortion of history,” they explained, “because they suggest the idea that Christians allied themselves with the British in their efforts to undermine India. Which is an absolute falsehood.”
According to Governor Ravi, Christian missionaries allegedly “stole our wealth and art treasures, creating a false identity for the people of the country, manipulating history and making it wrong.” The Tamil Nadu bishops described the statements as “divisive rhetoric targeting the Christian community.”
For the Archbishop of Mylapore, Monsignor George Anthonysamy, “Governor Ravi’s speech was not only hateful but a clear attempt to incite communal tensions.”
The archbishop also stressed that Indian Christians have long been deeply attached to the country’s traditions, values and culture, and committed to its development. He asked the governor to stop promoting a politics of hatred and urged Ravi to focus on unity among people and fulfilling his constitutional duties.
As early as March this year, Governor Ravi had lashed out at Robert Caldwell’s book “A Comparative Grammar of Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages”, a work on linguistics written by a missionary in 1852, provoking bitter reactions from the Church of South India, a point of reference for the local Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist communities.
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